


Remnants of Olympus

by Rhyfeddol



Series: Remnants of Olympus [1]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, RWBY
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-11
Updated: 2016-08-10
Packaged: 2018-08-08 00:41:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 42,493
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7736401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rhyfeddol/pseuds/Rhyfeddol
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Team RWBY's first mission drags them into an unfamiliar world. The Huntresses-in-training must work together with new allies to defeat the forces that threaten both Olympus and Remnant.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Blake**

"Will Team RWBY please report to my office immediately? Again, Team RWBY to my office at once," the Headmaster's voice echoed over the PA system. Confused, I looked around the class at the other three members of my team. None of them seemed any the wiser about what was going on, or why Ozpin suddenly wanted to see us. Weiss narrowed her eyes at Ruby suspiciously, so apparently the heiress thought Ruby had done something dumb.

The whole walk to Professor Ozpin's office was spent with Ruby protesting she hadn't done anything, Yang defending her sister and Weiss accusing people of acting up and getting us in trouble with the Headmaster. As we reached the door to his office, however, everyone fell silent immediately. Ruby gave a few timid knocks, and we were met with a calm "come in".

We entered, and saw Ozpin looking somewhat serious, but not in a "you girls are in for it now" sort of way. It was more like he had something important to tell us, something that shouldn't be taken lightly.

"Thank you for coming. Relax, you're not in trouble," he told us, obviously noting the worried expression on Ruby's face. "However, I do have something I need to tell you."

He observed the four of us for a while, before continuing. "You will now be receiving your first mission as a team. We've received some anomalous readings from the Emerald Forest, and we would like you to check it out."

Ruby looked like she was about to protest, probably about how that's not a real mission or something like that, but the Headmaster hadn't finished. "Aside from the fact that you will have to journey into the heart of the forest, encountering many Grimm along the way, it will be very dangerous. These readings are unlike anything we've ever seen before, and none of our research has confirmed anything. You'll be going into this blind, and we have no idea what you can expect to find. You have one hour to prepare for the mission, then we will be sending you into the unknown." I noted that he seemed to be hiding information from us, and stored that fact away for future analysis.

"Yes, sir," Ruby said, and the four of us headed to our dorm to pack supplies and such.

While gathering our equipment, Ruby couldn't contain her excitement. "What do you think we'll find? New Grimm? New kind of Dust?"

"Whoa, calm down there, sis," Yang told her. "You need to focus."

"Yeah, you're right, Yang. Sorry," the red-clad girl said, before composing herself and gathering ammo for Crescent Rose. Weiss was choosing what kinds of Dust to bring, while I had an internal debate about whether I should bring additional magazines for Gambol Shroud's pistol form. Deciding it would be better to be safe than sorry, I threw some extra mags into my bag. Because I always prefer to travel light, I finished packing before anyone else, and turned to see Yang struggling to decide which sunglasses she wanted to take. I had to admit, she looked kind of cute with the way her brow furrowed. When I had this thought, I turned away in case I blushed. No one said anything, so I thought I got away with it.

Within the hour, we finished our preparations and headed to the forest, where we found Ozpin and Goodwitch waiting for us. The latter looked like she was trying to hide the fact that she was worried, further reinforcing my belief that we hadn't been given all the information. What could be being held back, or why, though, I had no idea.

"Make sure you do not return until you have thoroughly analyzed the source of these readings, and determined the cause if possible. That is all," the Headmaster told us, the implication being that it was time for us to head out. We entered the forest, Ruby practically shivering with anticipation. Yang looked around confidently, obviously looking for a fight. Weiss and I remained the only ones who were composed, which didn't surprise either of us.

After an uneventful walk, we reached the forest temple, and I noticed that the air seemed to be shimmering slightly. Ruby abandoned caution and immediately headed towards the shimmer. Yang, concerned for her sister's well-being, followed. Weiss and I looked at each other and silently decided we needed to follow and make sure our partners were safe, so we also stepped towards the shimmer.

Immediately, I wished I hadn't. I started to feel woozy, and my vision started to lose focus. My teammates became coloured blobs and appeared to be off-balance. However, I couldn't tell because I couldn't distinguish any features of anything anymore.

"Whathefucksthis?" I heard Yang say, her words heavily slurred. Whether they really were slurred, or if my hearing was also affected by this shimmer, I would never find out. Suddenly, there was a bright flash, and I passed out.

When I came to, the temple was gone, and I seemed to be in a different forest. The trees seemed to be different species, and all the colours were more vibrant, even though it was darker. I figured it must be later in the day. As I sat up, I noticed a woman with dark hair wearing a white dress standing in front of us.

"My time is limited, Huntresses," she said, and I noticed that the rest of Team RWBY were also here, wherever "here" was. "I cannot explain much to you, but know this: you are no longer in your world. You are in a world of gods, Titans and giants. Much will be confusing to you, but power through hardships and you, along with the heroes of Olympus, will prevail over the forces that threaten both worlds." With that, she waved her hand, and I felt unconsciousness washing over me again.

I came to for the second time today, and the woman was nowhere to be seen. _Yang would probably find that sentence hilarious,_ I thought, before thinking back to what that woman had said. Gods, Titans and giants. What did any of that mean, and where in Remnant were we? I would later learn the irony of the second question.

The four of us looked at each other, confused, and I deduced that my teammates must have had the same vision, or hallucination, or whatever. Before any of us got a chance to say anything, however, we hear a male voice.

"All right, Annabeth, this should be easy. The scouts from the Apollo cabin reported two guards around the enemy flag. No problem at all." Before I was able to determine the source, a female voice responded, presumably the "Annabeth" the first voice mentioned.

"Don't get cocky, Percy."

We got our weapons ready, prepared for this potential threat. Two figures stepped out from the trees to my left, and I turned when I heard them approaching. One of them was a boy, about our age, dressed in bronze armour with a plumed helmet. He was holding a bronze sword roughly the same length as Gambol Shroud. His companion was a girl, also about our age, dressed similarly, but she held a dagger about the length of her forearm, perhaps a little shorter. Storm-gray eyes surveyed us silently from beneath her helmet, and I got the impression that this girl was a strategist.

"Who are you, and how did you get here?" she asked us, in a very business-like tone.

"We have no idea how we got here. We were on a mission in the Emerald Forest, then we fainted, we saw a woman in a white dress, she said stuff that didn't make sense, then we woke up here," Ruby explained breathlessly.

"Chiron will need to hear about this," the girl said, turning to her companion. Turning back to us, she asks who we are again.

"I'm Ruby, the girl with the white hair is Weiss, the one with the bow is Blake and the blonde is my sister, Yang," Ruby answered.

"You don't look like demigods," the boy told us. _Great. More cryptic messages._ "Annabeth, what should we do?"

"We take them to meet Chiron," the girl, who I'd now deduced is called Annabeth, replied. "My name's Annabeth, and this is my boyfriend Percy," she said, extending a hand. We all shook, then she told us to follow her.

As we walked through the forest, another kid in similar armour to Percy and Annabeth's burst out of the trees, and commanded our new acquaintances to surrender. At the time, I didn't realize that these people were playing a game, and the new arrival was on the opposing team, so I unsheathed Gambol Shroud and activated its pistol, taking aim at the new kid.

"Easy, there, Blake, was it?" Annabeth said, lowering my arm. Turning to the new kid, she told him she was taking the four of us to this Chiron fellow. He looked us over and didn't even question Annabeth's judgment, before running off to continue whatever game was being played.

"Capture the flag," Percy explained, after Weiss had asked what that had been about. "We play every Friday in full combat gear."

Before long, we made it out of the forest and Annabeth took us over to what appeared to be a man with a horse's body. Before I could even register my confusion, Annabeth introduced us to this man. It turned out he was the Chiron fellow Annabeth had mentioned several times, and he was something called a "centaur".

"Huntresses?" he asked, his face grave.

"Yes, sir, but how could you possibly know-" I started to say, but got cut off.

"We have long been aware of the world of Remnant, but I had hoped it wouldn't come to this point," Chiron said. "If the gods have decided this is prudent, I must trust their judgment and offer you accommodation at Camp Half-Blood."

"Uhh… Where?" Ruby asked.

"You are in Camp Half-Blood, a training camp for half-bloods, or demigods. They are the mortal offspring of a human and a god. Here, they are offered a safe haven to learn how to defend themselves from monsters that wish to kill them," the centaur explained patiently.

"I'm assuming you don't mean creatures of Grimm?" I ask him.

"No, my dear girl, the Grimm do not exist here. The monsters you will encounter come from Tartarus, but it would take a considerable amount of time to explain _that_ place to you properly." I nod.

"Got any food?" Yang asked. I shook my head in disbelief. We've somehow ended up in a _brand new world_ , where the Grimm don't even exist, and all she could think of was _food_? The centaur looked surprised, before telling Yang that we would be having s'mores at the campfire later, whatever they are.

"Back on topic, I do not know what it is that gave the gods reason to bring you here, but I can say with certainty that it must be serious. They rarely intervene directly, especially not to do something as major as bringing you across to our world," Chiron said.

"Okay, okay, where is Remnant, and what are Grimm?" Annabeth asked in an impatient tone, which made me think she liked to know everything.

"Remnant is another world, much like ours, but without gods, or Titans. The Grimm are monsters that inhabit most of Remnant, and are the embodiment of darkness, if I understand correctly. The only information we have in writing is stored in the library on Olympus, which Athena herself rarely enters," the centaur replied. Annabeth looked frustrated that she couldn't learn more. "Anyway, Annabeth, would you show the Huntresses to the guest cabin, please?" Chiron asked, in a tone that said he didn't need an answer.

"Sure. Come on, you four," she responded, before taking us to the weirdest group of buildings I've ever seen. Some looked fairly normal, but one had grass growing on the roof. Another was painted bright red, and whoever had painted it had done a very bad job of it. Annabeth guided us past all of them to a simple wooden building that seemed large enough for at least a dozen people to sleep comfortably. "You'll be staying here," she tells us, opening the door. "You can relax for a while, and someone will come get you before the campfire starts. Chiron will probably want to introduce you to everyone." With that, she left.

Confused at everything that's happened, we all sat down on the surprisingly comfortable beds. We stayed like that for maybe half an hour, when there was a knock on the door. We heard Percy's voice call out "the campfire's starting soon. Chiron told me to come get you guys."

Team RWBY all got up as one and exited the cabin. We followed Percy to a raging bonfire that seemed to be changing colour, unless my eyes were deceiving me. When we arrived at the amphitheatre, Chiron gestured at us to join him in front of the fire. When the campers saw us, they all broke into whispers. Thanks to my Faunus hearing, I heard that every conversation was something along the lines of "who are they? They don't look like demigods. How did they get here?" We still didn't know the answer to that question.

Chiron stamped his hoof on the fire pit stones to get everyone's attention. "The four girls you see here are Team RWBY. Their names are Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long," he called out, gesturing at each of us as he said our names. "They come from a world called Remnant, a world we know little about. They are here because the gods have decreed something is happening that is serious enough to warrant it. Unfortunately, we have nothing to go on to determine what it is." Everyone looked at us keenly, and I noticed for the first time that there were groups of campers who shared similar features, as though they were related. _Children of the same god, maybe?_ As I pondered this, a girl who looked like she could be best friends with Cardin Winchester stood up and asked if we could fight.

"Come at me and find out," Yang said, smiling. The girl seemed slightly intimidated by my partner's confidence, but challenged her to a sparring match in the arena tomorrow. Yang wholeheartedly agreed.

"Ladies, as fascinating as combat is, it's now time for the sing along. Team RWBY and the counselors will convene in the Big House rec room tomorrow at noon to discuss everything that's happened."

With that, my teammates and I sat down next to Percy, who didn't seem to have a resemblance to any of the other campers, and thus had no group. Everyone broke into song, and I couldn't help smiling as Yang attempted to join in, despite not knowing the words to anything that was being sung. Weiss' face said "save me now", while Ruby was eagerly making s'mores. These turned out to be crackers with marshmallows and chocolate between them, roasted over the fire. I decided to try one, and found them to be delicious. After about an hour of this sing-along, Chiron stamped his hoof and announced that it's time for bed. Team RWBY headed back to the guest cabin, where I fell into a dreamless sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**Blake**

I woke up several hours later, and, as usual, my teammates were still fast asleep. I got dressed, grabbed Gambol Shroud, out of habit more than anything, and went to explore Camp Half-Blood. Upon exiting the cabin, I saw that it was not long after dawn, and figured most people would still be asleep. That would suit me perfectly, so I was feeling pretty good as I set out.

Unfortunately, as I approached the main "U" shaped group of cabins, someone exited one of them. It was a long, low building made of rough stone with seashells embedded in the walls. When the person turned in my direction, I realized that it was Percy. _At least it's someone I know,_ I thought, preparing myself for social contact.

"Hey, Blake," Percy called out when he saw me. "You're up early."

"I've always been an early riser," I replied. "I decided to get out and explore the camp."

"Well, I usually sleep late, but I had a… Bad dream, let's call it. It's hard to explain," he told me. "Want me to show you around?"

"Sure."

With that, Percy took me past the mess hall, which was an open-air pavilion, and up to the climbing wall. It looked like a fairly normal climbing wall, but it was constantly shaking. And it had lava pouring down it. To the south, there was the amphitheatre last night's campfire had taken place in. We walked down that way, all the way to the southern border of the camp, where there was a volleyball court. To the west, a large, blue house stood. It didn't take a genius to work out that that was the Big House, but Percy told me it was anyway. The cabins were to the north of the Big House, and there was an arena just west of them. I guessed that this was the arena Yang and the girl from last night were going to spar in. Slightly further west, I could see an armory and a forge. Apparently, the campers made the bronze weapons and armour I had seen on everyone last night during capture the flag, when we had first arrived. At the extreme south-west corner of the camp, strawberries were growing.

"The mortals think this is a strawberry farm called Delphi Strawberry Co.," Percy told me. "We sell them to pay our expenses."

Near the strawberry fields, there were some stables. Percy told me they were for pegasi, then explained that they're horses with wings after he saw that I didn't know what he meant.

"So tell me about Remnant," Percy said at the conclusion of the tour.

"It's inhabited by the creatures of Grimm, who basically just want to kill all humans. Ruby, Weiss, Yang and I are training to become Huntresses, who dedicate their lives to protecting people who don't have the tools or training to defend themselves. Most people live in one of the four kingdoms, which are generally pretty safe. I grew up outside the kingdoms, where I had to learn to fight. If I hadn't, I wouldn't be here today."

"That sounds pretty interesting. Don't be surprised if Annabeth badgers you for information. She's a daughter of Athena, and likes to know everything she can."

"Percy, these gods and goddesses don't exist on Remnant. They're just names to me," I said, with a slight hint of annoyance at being expected to know who these people were.

"Right, sorry. Well, you have Zeus, the king of the gods, also known as the Lord of the Sky. He controls storms, lightning, pretty much any form of electricity. He also has the most powerful weapon in the universe. His wife is Hera, who has no demigod kids because she's faithful. Poseidon is the god of the sea, and Zeus' brother. Also, he's my dad. I have no siblings on his side, except for all of the Cyclopes. Demeter is the goddess of agriculture, and Zeus' sister. Her cabin is the one with grass and flowers on the roof. Ares is the war god, and one of Zeus and Hera's children. His cabin is the ugly red one. Your friend Yang arranged a sparring match with one of his daughters. I hope she's as tough as she acts, because Ares' kids do not play nice," he explained patiently.

"Oh, trust me, Yang can handle herself. Just never, _ever_ touch her hair."

"I'll keep that in mind. Anyway, next there's Athena, Annabeth's mom. She's the goddess of wisdom and battle strategy, and her kids are really smart. Apollo is the sun god, and one of the twin archers. His kids are really musical and lead the sing-alongs, but don't piss them off if they're holding a bow. His sister is Artemis. Hers is the silver cabin, but she swore to remain a virgin forever, so no kids. Hephaestus is Ares' brother, and the only other child of Zeus and Hera. He's the god of blacksmiths, and his kids basically just work the forge all day. Aphrodite is the goddess of beauty, and Hephaestus' wife. Her kids just check their hair and do their nails all day instead of participating in camp activities. Hermes is the messenger god, and the god of thieves. Don't leave your valuables unattended when his kids are around. Finally, there's Dionysus. He technically runs the camp, and we call him Mr. D, but he got called back to Olympus indefinitely. Zeus is really paranoid, and no one knows why. Anyway, there are hundreds of other gods, but those are the main ones, the twelve Olympians."

"Thank you. Hey, do you mind if I put your swordfighting abilities to the test? I want to see what level you guys are at here." I asked.

"Sure, no problem," Percy replied, pulling out a pen. I had a moment of confusion, before he uncapped it and it grew into the sword I had seen last night. "This is Riptide. It always returns to my pocket if I lose it, so I'll pretty much always have it."

I brought Gambol Shroud out and left it in its default form. I figured the second blade would be useful for the element of surprise if Percy turned out to be a good swordsman. He took the first swing, an easily deflectable attack. I immediately tried a vicious diagonal strike across his chest, which the poor boy was only just able to dodge. As it was, I sliced his shirt open. After several minutes like this, it became painfully obvious that Percy would not make it if he were at Beacon. He was only marginally more skilled than Jaune Arc, and that's saying something. He gave up, covered in sweat. I hadn't even been trying, and I put Gambol Shroud away with a smirk.

"You're really good," Percy said, dumbfounded. "I'm one of the better fighters at camp, and you didn't even have a problem beating me."

"Combat on Remnant is taken really seriously, especially at the academies where Huntsmen and Huntresses are trained," I replied.

"It's a big deal for demigods too, but you're on, like, another level altogether."

"That's not all I can do," I told him, drawing Gambol Shroud's katana form and activating the pistol.

Percy widened his eyes, then asked how good my aim is. I merely picked up a small stone and threw it into the air, then tracked it with my pistol sights. I fired, and the bullet shatters the stone in midair. Percy looked at me, mouth agape. I smile, and put my sword away.

Suddenly, a horn sounded. "Breakfast," Percy told me, and we headed to the mess hall.

On arrival, I saw the rest of my team now up, sitting alone at a table. I noticed that everyone seemed to be sitting in the same groups as the sing-along last night, and deduced that the seating was by cabin. I sat down with my team, and breakfast was served by girls who, unless I was very much mistaken, materialized from the trees in the forest, as if they'd been inside the trunks and decided to pop out. I noticed that we had goblets, but no drinks to fill them with. Annabeth came over to our table and explained that the goblets were enchanted to fill with whatever drink you wanted.

"Vodka," Yang said to her cup. Nothing happened. "Rum. Whiskey? Beer? ANYTHING?"

"Non-alcoholic drinks only. And isn't it a little early to be getting wasted?" Annabeth said, laughing at Yang's antics. The blonde grumbled, before asking her cup for People Like Grapes soda. This time, the cup filled with what she wanted, and she took a cautious sip, as if she didn't trust what she was seeing. Everything seemed to be fine, however, so the rest of us got our drinks and began to eat. As everyone was finishing, Chiron stamped his hoof to get our attention.

"The morning peace was disturbed by gunfire today. Does anyone care to explain why?" he asked. I immediately blushed.

"Blake was demonstrating her aim," Percy called out, completely oblivious to the holes I was boring in his back with my glare.

"I didn't know you liked showing off, Blake," Yang said, smiling.

"Shut up, you. At least I don't immediately pick a fight with the war god's kids," I shot back.

"Ms. Belladonna, why were you demonstrating your aim?" Chiron asked me.

"Percy was impressed when I thrashed him in a swordfight, so I decided to show him what else I can do," I replied.

"In future, save it for training, please."

"All right. Sorry," I said sheepishly.

"Speaking of which, after the counselors' meeting with Team RWBY later, I would like to see how the four of you fare in combat, if you don't mind."

Ruby's eyes lit up, probably because she was excited at the prospect of showing off Crescent Rose to everyone. "No, sir, that's totally fine," she told the centaur excitedly.

Chiron smiled. "Please, my dear girl, it's just Chiron. There's no need to be so formal here."

With that, he wished everyone a good day, and I learned that Saturdays and Sundays were days off here, too, so we were free to do whatever we wanted. Yang hunted down Ares' kids, and challenged them. All of them. I decided to accompany them to the arena to watch the fight.

"All right, blondie, you're going down," the girl from last night told Yang. My partner smiled, and said "come at me, bro."

The children of Ares were happy to oblige, as they surrounded Yang and prepared to humiliate her. I smiled, knowing that Yang would make mincemeat out of them. A few minutes later, only the girl from last night could stand, her brothers and sisters lying on the arena floor moaning in pain. The girl had a spear, which she thrust at Yang. She didn't expect the blonde to sidestep, grab the shaft of the spear in one hand and slam the opposite elbow down onto it, snapping it in two. I felt a static discharge, and came to the conclusion that the spear had been electric.

"You bitch! That was my third spear!" the girl yelled, running at Yang. She prepared to punch, but my partner was far too quick. She executed a low sweeping kick, causing her opponent to go sprawling. I noted that this girl had no sense of strategy in battle, as she got right back up and ran at Yang again. The blonde delivered a punch to the middle of her face, knocking her out immediately.

"Lemme know when you can give me a _real_ fight," the brawler taunted Ares' kids, before leaving the arena with me.

Word spread fast about this fight, and people were looking at Yang with fearful respect everywhere she went. At noon, we headed to the Big House for the meeting Chiron had scheduled, and saw Annabeth waiting for us.

"Come on, the rec room's through here," she told us, and we followed her to a room occupied by a ping pong table surrounded by chairs. One of them contained the girl Yang had knocked out earlier, who glared at us. "Ah, yes, I heard you beat the crap out of Clarisse," Annabeth said to Yang. _So that's her name,_ I thought.

"It was nothing. I thought they'd be tough, considering their dad is a war god," Yang said, to which Clarisse stood up angrily.

"Clarisse, calm down," Chiron said, and I noticed he was in the room. "I'm sure Yang meant no offence."

"Yeah, let's go with that," my partner said.

A couple of minutes later, everyone who was invited to the meeting had arrived, and Chiron addressed us. "You are gathered here because of the arrival of Team RWBY, which was not as unexpected as I originally let on." He let that sink in, before turning to face my team and I. "Your Headmaster contacted me, on one of the rare occasions communication between our two worlds is allowed. He told me he'd been visited in a dream by Hera, who told him about an impending threat to our world and Remnant. Details were scarce, but apparently Hera also told him that she had selected Team RWBY to come over here and stop whatever's going on." _Ozpin was hiding something from us. He probably told Goodwitch, which is why she was worried._ "An acquaintance of mine, Lupa, recently reported something strange-" he tried to continue, but Annabeth cut him off.

"Lupa? Isn't that the she-wolf who rescued Remus and Romulus from the river Tiber when they were left to die?"

"Yes, Annabeth. I will explain in due course. As I was saying, Lupa reported something strange that she had heard. During the war games at Camp Jupiter, a camper was accidentally killed. Supposedly, she came back to life in minutes, with no intervention from any healers," Chiron finished.

"Where?" Annabeth asked impatiently.

"A camp for Roman demigods. That is, children of the gods in their Roman form. Lupa doesn't actually reside in the camp, but all Roman demigods make their way to her before going to Camp Jupiter. She receives word about exceptional situations, and reports them to me only rarely. In this case, she is worried that something is preventing the dead from staying dead. For that to happen, something must have happened to Thanatos. If this situation isn't resolved, deceased souls will escape the Underworld and take over the realm of the living."

I only understood some of what was said, but I could tell it was serious.

"Lupa and I believe that the Great Prophecy refers to demigods from both camps, Greek and Roman. We have arranged to send delegates from both our camps to meet on neutral territory to discuss a quest to find out what happened to Thanatos. Anything that could be preventing him from doing his duties as the god of death is more than a match for either of us alone, but with cooperation, and help from Team RWBY, assuming they accompany the quest party, we should be able to overcome whatever it is."

After a quick and whispered team discussion, Ruby, Weiss, Yang and I agreed to go on this quest.

"All right, now that that's decided, who else is going?" asked a pretty girl with choppy brown hair. "I'm Piper, by the way," she added, speaking directly to Team RWBY.

"I am," declared Percy. Annabeth also stated that she would join us, to keep Percy safe.

"Screw it, you might need a mechanic," a boy with curly black hair said. "Name's Leo, son of Hephaestus. Very skilled with my hands, and also available," he told us with a wink.

"If you make another innuendo like that, I will cut your 'skilled hands' off," Weiss replied, glaring at Leo. He visibly shrunk backwards in his chair.

"Aphrodite cabin doesn't get enough glory," Piper stated. "I'm coming too." Everyone looked surprised, and I remembered what Percy had told me about Aphrodite's kids not doing anything. Looking her over, I decided she didn't look how I'd expect a daughter of the beauty goddess to look. I'd figured they'd give immaculate care to their hair and makeup, and dress fashionably, but Piper didn't seem to care about any of that. Her eyes had a look of determination, as if she wanted to show that she was more than just a pretty face.

"Very well. I shall commune with Lupa, and tell her that we have selected four demigods, and that Camp Jupiter will have to select three. I shall also tell her to notify the Romans of Team RWBY, so they don't think we're trying a power play," Chiron said. "I expect you will be leaving in the next few days, so be prepared. You are all dismissed."

With that, we all got up to leave. "Team RWBY, one more thing, please," Chiron called to us. We turned back. "Has anything strange been happening in Remnant? Anything out of the ordinary?"

"There's been an increase in organized crime, but I doubt it involves whatever's going on now," I answered. He nodded, and told us we could go.

**Jason**

The day after Gwen had impossibly come back to life after the healers had given up, Reyna called for a meeting of all the campers. It took place in the mess hall, after we finished eating. Reyna yelled for attention, and everyone turned to face her.

"Romans! Lupa has told me we must send delegates to meet with Greek demigods, and arrange a quest to rescue Mors. Something has happened to prevent him from doing his duties as the god of death, which is why Gwen was able to return last night."

At the mention of Greek demigods, the campers went into uproar. I was somewhat confused, but kept my focus. After several seconds, Reyna signaled for me to get everyone else back under control, so I summoned a small amount of electricity and shocked everyone, just hard enough to silence them without seriously hurting anyone.

"The gods sometimes manifest themselves in their Greek forms and produce demigod children. They do not have the discipline of Romans, but Lupa, along with her counterpart Chiron, believe that the Prophecy of Seven refers to demigods from both camps. I do not like it any more than you, but we must work together to protect the world from whatever forces threaten it. That said, the delegation we send will be on a volunteer basis, so I now ask this: any takers?"

The campers remained silent, and I could tell no one was going to volunteer. I decided I would, so I raised my hand.

"Anyone else?" Reyna asked.

Timidly, a beefy ox of a boy called Frank Zhang, from the Fifth Cohort, raised his hand too. A girl called Hazel Levesque, who might have been Frank's girlfriend, but I wasn't sure, followed suit, probably so that she could stay with Frank.

"Is that all? Very well. We can hope the Greeks send four demigods. I shall send a message to Lupa, and tell her to let Chiron know that our delegation is ready at a moment's notice," Reyna said. "Dismissed."

With that, we left the mess hall, and I met with Frank and Hazel to discuss preparations for this quest. Naturally, they said I could lead them during the journey to meet the Greeks, and I told them it wasn't likely to be a journey on which we'd need a leader. We began gathering our supplies and weapons, and packed it all so that we could head out as soon as we had to.

I went to sleep that night feeling somewhat anxious. I had no idea what to expect from these Greeks, and anything that could keep Mors back was not something I wanted to mess with. However, I had a duty to protect the world from evil, so I wasn't gonna back down from this. I would fulfill the Prophecy of Seven, and defeat this new threat that was preventing itself, _nam Romae._


	3. Chapter 3

**Blake**

After being at Camp Half-Blood for several days and waiting until we had to leave for the quest, someone convinced Chiron to call for a mid-week game of capture the flag because it would be a long time before Percy, Annabeth, Leo and Piper would be able to play. After dinner, the centaur went over the rules, mainly for Team RWBY's benefit. He then announced that the Ares and Athena cabins held the flags, and that everyone knew what team they were on.

As it transpired, Team RWBY weren't on a team, having never played before. Annabeth, being senior counselor of the Athena cabin, asked us to join her and the Aphrodite, Hephaestus and Poseidon cabins. Basically everyone else was on Ares' side, so we went with the people we were somewhat acquainted with. I doubted Clarisse would let us be on her team anyway, considering what Yang had done to her and her cabinmates.

"Well, we're heavily outnumbered," Annabeth said. "But Athena always has a plan."

As she said that second part, I saw Percy mouthing the words at the same time. Apparently, he'd heard it a lot.

"Blake, from what I understand, you favour stealth, correct?" Annabeth asked me, to which I nodded. "Good. That means the rest of us can create a diversion while you sneak around the enemy forces and take their flag. However, if they launch a major attack, they could have our flag in no time. Therefore, the remaining members of Team RWBY will remain at our base and crush anyone who comes close." She looked around, before remembering something. "Ruby and Yang, you do have training rounds for your firearms, right?" she asked the sisters.

"Yeah, don't worry. We won't kill anyone," Yang replied, with a confident smile on her face. _I really love her smile,_ I thought, before shaking my head to clear it.

"Well then, does anyone have any questions?" our team captain asked. No one did, so we all got into position and waited for Chiron to signal the start of the match. A horn sounded, and Yang winked at me. Instead of dwelling on it, I headed into the woods to retrieve the enemy flag. My enhanced Faunus hearing picked up the sounds of metal clashing in various places, so I avoided those areas while moving in the general direction of the enemy base.

Within several minutes, I saw the enemy flag, guarded by at least two dozen kids in armour. Instead of going the Yang approach and charging, I decided to climb a tree and survey the area from above. Luckily, no one saw me. The flag was in a clearing, but foolishly placed by the tree line at the far side. This would be easy. Jumping lightly from branch to branch, and staying out of sight, I made my way round to the flag. It was surrounded by several kids who may have been from the Ares cabin, based on their builds, but they were all facing outwards. Not one eye was on the flag, so I jammed Gambol Shroud into the trunk of the tree I was in and slowly made my way down, using the ribbon to keep me suspended. Taking care to be silent, I reached for the flag and lifted it, before climbing back up to the branch I had been on. Surveying the enemy forces, I saw that no one had noticed the flag being taken. I smirk at their obliviousness, and start heading back to our base, taking the same route as I had before, but sticking to the trees the whole way.

I reached the creek, which served as the boundary line, and saw Clarisse leading a group of campers to attack our base. At this point, I knew we had the game in the bag so I dropped down in front of them, still on their side of the creek, and smiled. A look of horror dawned on Clarisse's face as she saw that I had the flag, then she tried to charge me. Unfortunately for her, I was practically standing in the creek, and she was about fifty feet away. I stepped over the creek long before the daughter of Ares got close, winning the game for us. The look of anger on Clarisse's face would have impressed Yang, had she been there to see it. I almost pitied the guards of the enemy flag, but then my partner tackled me with the kind of bear-hug I thought she reserved for Ruby. I just barely managed to keep my balance as I wondered how Yang had known where I was.

"I'm so glad you were quick. I was getting bored," she told me, smiling.

"Did anything happen at your end?" I asked her. She shook her head.

Before either of us got a chance to say anything else, the sound of hooves made us turn, and we saw Chiron approaching. "That was the shortest match of capture the flag we've ever had at this camp," he announced. "Unfortunately, there is no time for you to celebrate your victory. Lupa has just told me that the delegation from the Roman camp has departed and expects to meet our delegation in Salt Lake City, three days from now. To meet their deadline, you will need to depart as soon as possible."

By this point, the rest of the camp had arrived, and Leo asked how we were supposed to get to this "Salt Lake City" place in three days. I figured it must be pretty far away.

"Well, we can't take a plane," Percy said. "Zeus would blast me out of the sky."

"A train?" Piper suggested. "It would be expensive, but doable."

"Indeed. We will provide you with enough money to get there, as well as a supply of nectar and ambrosia, but then you will be on your own," Chiron said. Luckily, we had all prepared for the quest as soon as it had been decided that we would be going, so it was only five minutes before we departed for a train station. Unfortunately, it was apparently illegal to carry weapons without a license in this world, so Ruby, Weiss and I had to keep our weapons in a bag, where we would be unable to access them quickly if we needed them. Yang, however, was able to keep Ember Celica in their inactive mode, so she could pass them off as bracelets.

The drive to the train station was uneventful, and took around half an hour. Upon arrival, we found that our train would be leaving in five minutes, so we hurried to the platform. No one spoke as we waited for the train, and we were some of the only people to board. We must have looked quite strange to everyone who saw us: a group of eight unaccompanied teenagers with backpacks, one with pure white hair in an off-centre ponytail. I still had my bow on, as I didn't trust our companions enough to reveal my heritage.

We chose seats at the back of the compartment, away from everyone else, and decided to get some sleep. Yang, who was beside me, dropped off immediately, her head drooping onto my shoulder. Somewhat to my own surprise, I didn't mind this in the least. I stared at my partner enviously, wishing sleep would come to me as easily as it had to her. I looked around and saw Annabeth, still awake and looking worried.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"I just can't help thinking, what if it's a ploy? I've never heard of this Roman camp before, and Chiron usually tells me everything. If he was keeping information from me, there must have been a reason. Historically, Greeks and Romans don't mix. Why would Lupa or Chiron suddenly decide to bring the two camps together?" she replied.

"I don't know. But my Headmaster didn't tell us what we were getting into when he sent us on the mission that brought us here, so I sort of know how you feel. Even if it is a ploy, we should be able to handle them, unless it's their whole camp."

"True, but still. I find it hard to believe that anything could have happened to Thanatos," Annabeth said.

"I've been meaning to ask, who is this Thanatos everyone keeps mentioning?" I asked, hoping for some clarity on what it was we were actually meeting these Romans for.

"He's the god of death. His main responsibility is making sure the dead stay dead. If he can't perform his duties, not only will people come back to life, but monsters will reform almost instantly. If that happens, we'll have a serious problem," the daughter of Athena explained.

"What do you mean, 'monsters will reform almost instantly'?"

"Well, when you kill a monster with a Celestial bronze weapon like we use at camp, they disintegrate and their essence returns to Tartarus. In time, they'll reform and eventually return to the overworld to try and kill demigods again. Usually this takes a while, but with Thanatos gone, it could take seconds," Annabeth told me. "Speaking of which, I'm interested to see how well your weapons will work against the monsters here. Mortal weapons have no effect, but you guys don't seem to be the same as regular mortals, considering you were able to see the camp and stuff."

"Our weapons are conduits for Aura, which is basically the manifestation of our souls. It's an energy that protects us, and can heal minor wounds depending on the quantity of it someone has, so maybe it'll be able to kill monsters."

"Hopefully. We didn't bring any spare weapons for you guys, and we don't have anything similar to what you have in the camp armory, so it would be bad if you can't kill anything with what you brought from Remnant," Annabeth said, not looking convinced. "Anyway, we should probably sleep now. This journey's gonna take a while, but we'll need to be rested to rescue a god."

"Good idea," I replied. _I've slept in worse places than this,_ I thought, then tried to readjust my position slightly without waking Yang. Eventually, sleep overtook me.

I dreamt that I was in a void of white light. The woman who had spoken to us before we had met Percy and Annabeth was there, looking pleased with herself.

"Huntress, you are on the right path. The Romans may distrust you and your group at first, but remain open to cooperation and there shall be no serious problems. Remember this at all times: if Olympus should fall, Remnant shall fall with it. I can say no more about your quest; I am forbidden. Sleep now."

When I awoke, the train was still moving, but it was day. Weiss looked decidedly unimpressed at using public transportation and having to sleep on a train.

"We still have a day and a half of travelling," Annabeth stated. Weiss looked even more annoyed upon hearing this.

"'Weiss' she so annoyed?" Leo asked, seeing the heiress' face. Said girl glared at him, while Yang's eyes lit up at the pun.

"Dude, you're awesome," she told Leo with a huge smile.

"Yang! Do not encourage that!" Weiss snapped.

"Come on, Weiss so cold?" Yang replied, totally unfazed.

Leo cracked up at that, and I could already tell they were going to be friends. Ruby also snickered, then Weiss turned and glared out the window, muttering something about imbeciles.

The rest of the day passed similarly, with the group making jokes, or being serious and thinking about the quest. We also got to know our companions better, and it almost felt like being back with Team JNPR. Almost.

That night, I was more at ease with everyone around me, and I was one of the first to fall asleep. This time, I had no dreams at all.

The following morning, I was woken by Leo and Yang cracking up.

"Oh, morning, Blake. We were thinking of puns to annoy everyone," Yang told me when she saw I was awake. "Sorry if we woke you."

"Don't worry, it's fine. Just remember my rule about your puns," I replied.

"What's that?" Leo asked.

"No cat puns when I'm in earshot. It's a personal thing," I explained. "I might go into more details when I know you better, but for now, let's leave it at that."

"All right. I'll keep that in mind," he replied, looking more serious than I'd ever seen him.

I looked around, and saw that everyone else was also awake. "How much further?" I asked Annabeth.

"A few hours," she answered. I nodded, then started thinking about various things. _If this world really is in danger, what role will we play, and how will it affect Remnant? Will we ever get back? Was Ozpin hiding anything else from us?_ These questions all spiraled through my mind, and I found I had no answer to any of them. Pushing those thoughts aside, my mind turned to Yang. In the past few weeks, I'd started to see her differently. She was no longer just my partner, she was a beautiful, tough, caring girl whom I'd go to any length to keep safe. Not that she'd need my help to keep safe, considering how good of a fighter she was, but that's beside the point. _Am I developing feelings for her?_ I considered that possibility, and came to the conclusion that it was quite likely. I also had no other thoughts to explain how I'd been seeing her lately. The only problem was, I had no idea what to do about it. Hell, I didn't even know if Yang liked girls. Although, she had always been the adventurous type. I figured if anyone on our team was likely to be bisexual, it would probably be her.

I lost track of time reflecting on these thoughts, and before I knew it, the train was coming to a stop.

"Blake? We're here," Yang told me. I looked up in surprise, and saw that everyone was getting ready to leave. I stood up and grabbed my backpack, then left the train with the rest of the group.

"I guess we should head to the city centre," Annabeth suggested. "We weren't told where to meet, so it seems like the most logical place."

"Can we get cookies first?" Ruby asked, with the cutest puppy face she could manage. Luckily, Yang had prepared well, and she had cookies in her bag.

"Here," she said, handing a couple to her sister. With that sorted, we started walking in the general direction of the city centre. I noticed that Annabeth, Piper, Percy and Leo were all wearing their orange Camp Half-Blood shirts.

"Isn't that a little conspicuous?" I asked them.

"Mortals can't see what they say, and monsters would know we're demigods regardless," Piper replied.

"Ah."

"This place is just like Vale," Yang complained. "I was hoping to see something different."

"I agree that it's like Vale in that it stinks. But every city's like that," Weiss said. The demigods were looking at us blankly, and I had to admit it felt good to understand the conversation for once.

We walked for a few minutes, talking about nothing in particular, before I spotted three people wearing identical purple shirts with the words "Camp Jupiter" written on them.

"Guys? I think that's them," I said, pointing. We made our way over, and they narrowed their eyes suspiciously.

"Greeks?" the one in the middle asked. He was a tall boy with close-cropped blonde hair and electric-blue eyes, and a scar on the corner of his lip.

"Yeah. You the Romans?" Percy replied.

The blonde boy nodded. "Jason," he said, extending a hand. "Son of Jupiter. Or Zeus, as I believe you Greeks refer to him."

"Percy Jackson. Son of Poseidon," Percy said, shaking Jason's proffered hand.

"That's Neptune, if you didn't know," Annabeth helpfully chimed in. "I'm Annabeth, daughter of Athena. You would call her Minerva, but from what I understand she's a virgin goddess, is she not?"

"That's right," the girl on Jason's left answered. She was clearly the youngest one here, even a little younger than Ruby. "I'm Hazel Levesque. My dad is Pluto."

"We would call him Hades, right?" Piper asked, to which Hazel nodded. "I'm Piper, by the way. Daughter of Aphrodite, or Venus, if I recall."

"I'm Leo, son of Hephaestus," Leo said. "Don't even ask what you Romans would call him, because I have no idea."

"I'm Frank Zhang," the final Roman introduced himself. He was rather well built, and reminded me of Ares' kids. "Son of Mars."

"You four, the colourful ones," Jason said, turning to face my teammates and I. "I take it you're the non-demigods we were told about?"

"Yep! We're Team RWBY, from Remnant," Ruby answered, rather enthusiastically. "I'm Ruby."

"Weiss," the heiress stated.

"I'm Blake," I said, hoping I sounded at least a little friendlier than Weiss.

"And I'm Yang, Ruby's older sister," my partner finished.

"Well, we should probably get down to business," Annabeth said briskly, after the introductions were finished. "Do you guys know anything about what's happening?" she asked the Romans.

"No. All we know is that Mors is no longer performing his duties," Jason replied. Based on the fact that all the gods seemed to have two names, I figured that Mors was the Roman name for Thanatos. "We were hoping you'd know more."

"Well, I have an idea of _who_ might be responsible, but I don't know where to look. I also don't want to be right," Annabeth said, sounding worried.

" _You_ don't want to be right? Who are you, and what have you done with Annabeth?" Percy teased.

"Shut up, Percy. This is serious. If I _am_ right, we're all fucked." Hearing that, Percy shut up.

"Who do you think it is?" Piper asked.

"The giants," Annabeth answered in a small voice. Jason suddenly looked horrified, but everyone else's faces told me they were just as clueless as me. "You don't even want to know," she told us, looking around.

"Well I, for one, would like to know what we're up against," I told her.

"Fine. They're beings born of the Earth, literally. Their mother is Gaea, or Terra, the earth goddess. They were created specifically to destroy the Olympians after their half-siblings, the Titans, were overthrown. They're practically unstoppable, because only a god and a hero working together can kill them. If they're coming back, and the gods are on Olympus doing _nothing,_ well…" she didn't need to finish.

"So what you're saying is we have to stop them before they return to strength?" Yang asked.

"Yes, but if Annabeth's right, then the Earth itself will be trying to stop us. Terra is one twisted bitch. She convinced her son Saturn to kill Uranus, Terra's husband and Saturn's dad," Jason answered. "Then, when Saturn and the Titans were defeated in the Titanomachy, she screwed Tartarus and birthed the giants to get revenge on Jupiter and the Olympians."

"Wait, I have an idea about where Thanatos could be," Annabeth said. "Alaska."

"Why would he be there?" Leo asked. "And by the way, you'd better be wrong, because Alaska is fucking _cold._ "

"Alaska is the land beyond the gods. If he's being held there, it explains why none of the other gods could tell us anything," Annabeth explained.

"That makes sense," Hazel agreed. "Anyone have any other ideas?" No one did, so we had a vote, and decided that Alaska was the best place to go, wherever that was.

**Gaea**

So, the little Olympians think hiding on their mountain will stop me from waking, do they? Fools. The only intelligent one is Hera. Insolent granddaughter of mine, did you _have_ to unite the demigods, and bring the Huntresses? No matter. They have no way of preventing my rise…


	4. Chapter 4

**Blake**

After we had decided to go to this Alaska place, the next thing we had to decide was how we would get there.

"The best option would be by plane," Jason said.

"We can't. Zeus would blast me out of the sky," Percy replied.

"Not with me on board," Jason pointed out. "Killing his own son to annoy Neptune would be a little extreme, even for Jupiter."

"There's only one problem," Annabeth cut in. "We don't have the money for eleven plane tickets."

"If you guys are willing to risk a phone call, I could get my dad to pay for them," Piper suggested. "He's a movie star. Really rich," she added, noting the confusion on the faces of my teammates and I.

"An Iris message would be safer," Percy said. "Or would that startle him too much?"

"Yeah, he'd freak out."

"We'll have to risk a phone call then," Annabeth decided.

"What's so bad about making a phone call?" Yang asked.

"It can attract monsters," Hazel answered patiently.

"So? How tough can they be?"

"It doesn't matter how weak or strong they are. It's an inconvenience we should avoid. We're already seven demigods and four people from another world, we don't want to attract _more_ attention," Jason explained. "But now we have to, to accomplish this mission. Piper, be quick. There's a pay phone over there," he added, pointing.

"Okay. I'll be back soon," the demigod said, and headed to the phone.

Ten minutes later, Piper returned, with a triumphant look on her face. "We just need an internet café where we can print the booking information. Thankfully, my dad wasn't too difficult," she told us. I had no idea what an "internet café" was, but kept this to myself as the eleven of us started walking again.

It took five minutes to find what we were looking for. Piper ran inside with Percy and Jason while the rest of us waited on the sidewalk, keeping watch. A couple of minutes passed, then our companions exited the establishment, Piper holding several sheets of paper.

"Yo, geniuses?" Leo started.

"What is it?" I asked him.

"Some of us don't have passports," he answered. I assumed a passport was something we would each need to board a plane.

"When's the flight?" Annabeth asked Piper.

"Nine o'clock this evening," she replied. Annabeth thought about that for a moment, then said Hermes might be able to help.

"The... Messenger god, if I remember right, correct?" I asked. She nodded.

"He also does deliveries. If we ask _really_ nicely, and give him an offering, he might be able to create fake passports for those of us that haven't got them."

"I have a few drachma," Percy suggested, holding out some small gold coins.

"Perfect. We just need a secluded area," Annabeth said. We walked a bit more, and came to an alley with no one in it.

"This should be good," Jason announced.

"Percy, give me your drachma," Annabeth said, holding out her hand. Percy gave her the coins, and she started talking to thin air, or so it seemed. "Lord Hermes, I hate to disturb you, but we require assistance. If you're not too busy, please, accept our offering and provide passports to our group so that we may reach Thanatos and restore him to his post."

At first, nothing happened, but suddenly the air shimmered, and a box appeared on the ground in front of Annabeth, and the coins vanished from her hand. She opened the box and pulled out a small blue book. After flipping through the pages, she decided it was a "seemingly perfect American passport", and handed it to Jason. The rest of the books looked the same on the outside, but must have had some difference inside because Annabeth was being rather specific about who got which book. When I received mine, I saw that it had my picture and name in it, and deduced that passports must be some kind of identification.

"We should get to the airport," Leo suggested. "Get there early and we won't have problems. Except maybe with the weapons."

"I'll manipulate the Mist. Hopefully I can make them look like ski poles or something similar. It wouldn't be unusual, considering it's Alaska we're going to," Percy replied.

"Mist? It's a perfectly clear day!" Ruby said, making the demigods laugh.

"Not mist, Mist. Capital 'M'. It's a magical veil that stops mortals from seeing things properly, because their brains can't comprehend the truth," Annabeth explained.

"Ohhh..." the red-clad leader of Team RWBY said.

"I agree with Leo. We should get moving," Weiss said, to my surprise. That's like if she had said "I agree with Yang", in other words, very unlikely.

"Right, well, should we take the subway?" Frank asked.

"Yeah. It's quickest, and harder for monsters to follow us in the more crowded underground," Jason replied. I was quickly forming the idea that he was a natural leader. Unfortunately, Percy gave me the same impression, so they could clash if they ever got different opinions on the best course of action. Hopefully it would never come to that.

We headed for an underground station and got tickets with no problem, then waited for the train. We didn't have to wait long, as a train came barrelling out of the tunnel to our left. We boarded, and spent a ten minute journey without speaking.

We got off the train at the airport and went to check in, even though we were several hours early. The only problem was the security check, when Yang's gauntlets, as well as the bag containing Crescent Rose, Gambol Shroud and Myrtenaster triggered an alarm. I thought we were gonna get arrested, the Percy did something that confused me. He snapped his fingers, and the security guards blinked a couple of times, like they'd just woken from a daze.

"Sorry about that, ladies," one of them told Yang, Ruby, Weiss and I. "Technical fault. You're clear to go through."

We decided not to question it, and followed our companions to the waiting area. When we sat down, Yang asked Percy what he had done to the guards.

"Trick I learned from Chiron," he answered. "I made them think the weapons they saw on the scanner were ski poles, and Yang's gauntlets were just regular bracelets."

"Dude, you have to teach me that," Leo told him. "Could it make chicks like me, do you think?"

"I don't know. I didn't need to try it," Percy answered smugly, gesturing at Annabeth.

"Hey, anyone wanna come get food with me? I'm starving," Frank asked.

All the other boys followed him, as is typical of their kind. _Are males ever_ not _hungry?_ I wondered. This just left us girls.

"So, Blake, who is it?" Piper asked me.

"What are you talking about?" I replied, but I had a sneaking suspicion that she somehow knew I liked someone.

"Who do you have a crush on?" she teased. I could tell she was just having fun, but it wasn't something I wanted to talk about with someone I'd only met several days prior. However, I couldn't say that, because it would mean admitting that I did have a crush on someone, and then Yang would ask questions I wouldn't want to answer.

"No one," I answered, but I could feel a blush creeping onto my face. I tried to stop it, but I don't know how well I succeeded.

"Please. My mother's the goddess of love, I can tell when people are crushing."

"It's uh... Someone from Remnant," I said, being careful not to drop any hints as to who it could be. Yang looked at me, confused.

"I didn't know you had a crush on anyone. Is it Jaune?" my partner teased.

"Hell no, what is wrong with you?" I answered her, glad that, for now at least, no one had deduced the truth.

"Well, I guess I'm not gonna get any more out of you. What about you, Yang?" Piper said. I smiled at the blonde's flustered reaction. She hadn't been expecting Piper to ask her the same thing she'd asked me.

"None of your business," Yang told her.

"Come on, you have to tell us something. Blake did, and you're far more outspoken than her."

"Fine. I'll tell you this: it's a girl," Yang said, much to everyone's surprise. As I thought about that, my heart did a tap dance routine in my chest as I considered the very slim possibility that it could be me she was referring to. _No, it probably isn't. There's no way anything would work out that well for me._

"Well, I just want you to know that I have no problems with your sexuality, Yang. It's none of my business, so I say live and let live," Annabeth told her, which everyone agreed with.

"Thank you," the brawler answered. At this point, the boys returned with food that they were clearly not willing to share. Lucky for them, they hadn't brought cookies. Ruby would fight them tooth and nail to get them, even if we were supposed to be working together.

The next few hours were quite boring, and we spent them becoming better acquainted with our Roman companions. They were clearly more disciplined than the Greeks, and I got the impression that their camp was more military-oriented than Camp Half-Blood. My teammates and I shared more information about Remnant and the Grimm, and the demigods said they would like to visit at some point, maybe see the Vytal tournament.

"We should focus on saving the world first," Weiss said. "Then, we can discuss tourism."

"Quit being a killjoy," Yang told her. "It's not like we can do anything before this flight, can we?"

"Yang's right," Ruby agreed. "There's nothing wrong with relaxing right now."

A few minutes later, our flight was called, so we got on the plane and found our seats. We ended up scattered throughout the cabin, so Yang and I sat together next to a window. Frank and Hazel were behind us, and Ruby and Weiss were in the middle section of seats, across the aisle from us. I wasn't sure where the others were. To pass the time, I took a nap, but wished I hadn't when I woke up.

"Good cat-nap?" Yang asked me. I decided to forgive her, just this once, but I gave her a warning. "Well, we're landing soon."

"Good. I'm sick of travelling," I answered. Within ten minutes, the plane landed and we disembarked. Upon exiting the airport, I found that Leo had been right earlier when he said Alaska is really cold. Luckily, Yang always radiated heat, so I decided I would stay as close to her as I could without arousing suspicion. Weiss was, as usual, unaffected by the cold, and the demigods looked at her in surprise when she said she was comfortable.

"She's always Weiss cold," Yang told them. "This is nothing to her."

Leo found this pun hilarious, but stopped laughing when Weiss shot him a glare.

"Aaanyway…" Annabeth interjected, before things got out of hand. "Where should we look?"

"For some reason, I feel like Seward is a good place to start. I… uh… used to live there, before coming to Camp Jupiter," Hazel suggested. I felt like there was something she wasn't telling us, but I didn't say anything. No one had any better ideas, so we got on yet another train and headed to the place Hazel suggested.

When we arrived, I saw that Seward was a small town next to an ocean. Fairly far offshore, I could see what appeared to be a storm brewing over a glacier.

"Over there," Jason said, pointing in the direction I had been looking. "That doesn't seem normal."

"It's just a storm. Nothing out of the ordinary. Or do you not have those here?" Weiss replied.

"Look again," Annabeth told her, smiling. I also took another look, and saw that the "storm" was actually a whirling maelstrom of black clouds converging over a glacier.

"To answer your question, Weiss, we do have storms here, but not like that," Jason said matter-of-factly.

"There's probably bad guys over there. Let's go," Yang said, cracking her knuckles.

"How? It's not like we can just walk over there," Ruby replied.

"Hire a boat?" Percy suggested.

"That'll work, because we definitely have the money for that," Frank answered sarcastically.

"Wait, I think my mom always kept some money stashed away in our old house," Hazel said, so we followed her to a dilapidated shack on the outskirts of town. It looked like it had been abandoned for decades, which made little sense because Hazel was the youngest of us all. I decided not to ask questions, figuring she'd explain if she wanted to. She told us to wait outside while she went in to search, muttering about how it had better not have been looted since she'd last been here.

She came out of the shack a minute or so later with a wad of green paper. I figured it was money in this world, very different from the Lien cards we used on Remnant. We then went to look for a boat we could hire or buy that could take all eleven of us. Luckily, it didn't take long. An old man with a bushy grey beard had a boat, available instantly, that we could take. He charged us all the money Hazel had retrieved from her old house, but that was the least of our worries. According to Annabeth, the swirling vortex probably meant that one of the giants was being resurrected on that glacier.

Percy was an excellent seaman thanks to his heritage, so it took but a minute to prep the boat for the journey. He said he could steer the boat by manipulating ocean currents, so there was no danger of us crashing into anything. I hoped he was right. I _hate_ water. The trip to the glacier took half an hour, which we all spent in anxious silence.

On arrival, we saw an army of ghostly figures guarding an equally ghostly military camp. The epicentre of the vortex was in the middle of the glacier, and there was a handsome man with black hair chained up a few feet from that spot.

"Thanatos…" Annabeth breathed. "Okay, if we can unchain him, he can send all these souls back to the Underworld. Unfortunately, there's an army in the way, which we'll have to fight through, and we don't know how effective Team RWBY's weapons are gonna be against anything here."

"Well, even if they turn out to be useless, I'm gonna go down fighting," Yang declared. "You could say I'll be going out with a Yang!"

"Not now, Yang, please. This is serious business," I told her. At this point, a translucent, but very solid, arrow pierces the side of our boat, so we couldn't make any further plans. Ruby opened the bag with our weapons and handed them out before we all charged. Happily, my theory about our Aura making our weapons work against supernatural enemies turned out to be correct, so Team RWBY went all out. Even Weiss' Dust-based attacks were effective, and our demigod companions watched, dumbfounded, as we tore through the enemy forces with little difficulty.

"This is easy!" Yang yelled, punching a spirit, making it dissipate into mist. Her confidence faltered when we realised that every enemy we defeated reformed in seconds.

"You guys! Unchain Thanatos! We'll keep the spirits off you!" Ruby yelled at the demigods, who were spurred into action by the authority in the young girl's voice. After several intense seconds of combat, there was an almighty roar from the centre of the maelstrom. I turned and saw a very large man with golden skin. _Annabeth wasn't kidding when she said "giants",_ I thought. This particular giant was covered in precious stones, and had reptilian legs the colour of rust.

"Heroes! Do you think you can stop me?" he bellowed. His voice blew my hair back from my face. "I am Alcyoneus, bane of Hades! You are nothing!"

"Try me, bitch," Yang told him, with that cocky smile I love so much.

"No, Yang, don't try to fight him! He can't be killed here!" Annabeth yelled at her. Naturally, my partner ignored her, and charged. Alcyoneus drew a massive iron staff and swept it at Yang. She jumped to dodge the attack, and landed on the staff. She ran up it and climbed the giant's arm, then started firing Ember Celica as soon as she reached his shoulder. Unfortunately for the enemy forces, she was shaken off. I say "unfortunately" because a fifty-foot drop was more than enough to activate her Semblance. Yang stood up, smiling, hair flaming and eyes crimson. She charged Alcyoneus again, a blur of fire streaking across my line of sight. The spirit army suddenly started attacking again, so I didn't see what Yang did next. Within minutes of more intense fighting, there was a colossal rumble, and I saw Alcyoneus on the ground with a large crater where his nose used to be. He wasn't moving, but I knew he was just unconscious.

"Keep an eye on him," I told Yang. "He tries to get up, knock him right back down." She nodded, and I saw the demigods being unsuccessful in unchaining Thanatos. I fought my way over to see what was happening.

"The chains can only be melted with the fire of life, apparently," Leo told me. "None of us know what that means."

I saw Frank trying to hide a guilty look. "I… I do," he said regretfully. He brought out a stick of firewood, much to everyone's confusion, and asked Thanatos if it was what was needed. The god nodded, and said Frank could survive if he was careful. "I'll explain later," the son of the war god told us. "We just need fire."

"I got this," Leo said, and a fireball appeared in his hand. "I'm pyrokinetic," he explained, before the fireball dulled to a small flame. "Do what you have to do," he told Frank, lighting the stick. I figured I should start fighting again, so I jumped back into the fray to protect my companions.

About two minutes later, Hazel yelled "snuff it now!", so I figured the god was free. Somewhere behind me, Ruby apparently realised this too.

"WOOH-uhn," my leader exclaimed, before all the spirits vanished. Thanatos must have sent them back where they belonged. The noise Ruby had made didn't sound right though, so I turned and saw the girl clutching at a sword wound through her stomach. I felt tears welling in my eyes as I watched her fall to the ground, her blood staining the ice. Off to the side, I heard Yang scream bloody murder.

I ran to Ruby, and applied pressure to the wound, trying to staunch the flow of blood. The demigods, accompanied by Weiss, crowded round, and someone brought out a canteen.

"Pour this on it," Annabeth told me. "It should help close it." I took the canteen and poured, but I couldn't see what I was doing through the tears in my eyes. I heard a thud behind me, and turned to see Yang kneeling on Thanatos' chest.

"You're the god of death. You control who lives, and who dies. If she dies, I _will_ kill you, and I don't give a flying _fuck_ if you're immortal. Understand?" she growled at the god. I turned back to face Ruby, who was deathly pale.

"I don't know if she's gonna make it," Piper told me.


	5. Chapter 5

**Blake**

"I don't know if she's gonna make it," Piper told me. Yang heard this too, and she broke down, her anger being replaced by an overwhelming sadness. I could see Ruby's chest struggling to rise as the girl took increasingly fainter breaths, and for the first time in months, I let my emotions flow, not caring how I looked with tears streaming down my face.

"What can we do?" I heard Weiss ask.

"Pour nectar on the wound," Annabeth answered her. "Hope for the best." Weiss took the canteen I'd been given and followed Annabeth's instructions more effectively than I had, because she wasn't crying too much to be able to see clearly. Behind me, I heard Thanatos' voice.

"Oh? That's interesting," the god said, looking at a black tablet, which I assumed to be this world's equivalent of the scrolls we have on Remnant.

"What is?" Yang asked him, looking up.

"She's not on the list," he replied.

"What the fuck does that mean?" the blonde asked.

"Every spirit who is due in Erebus is listed here," Thanatos explained, gesturing at his tablet. "Miss Ruby Rose is not on it."

"So... She'll live?" Yang asked hopefully.

"I-I can't say," the god replied. "If she was from this world, then I would have a definitive answer, but no one from Remnant has been here before, so I do not know if they would be listed."

"That stings," I heard a weak voice say. Turning, I saw Piper and Annabeth looking pleased with themselves, and Ruby grimacing. "Is there a less painful treatment?"

In spite of the seriousness of the situation, we all laughed at the young girl.

"Here, try this," Annabeth told her, handing her a square of some food I'd never seen before.

"It tastes like cookies," Ruby declared after finishing it. I noticed some colour returning to her face after she ate whatever it was, so I figured it had some kind of healing properties.

"Ambrosia. Tastes like your favourite food," Percy explained. At this point, Yang had gotten over the relief of seeing her sister not dying, but managed to restrain herself from hugging Ruby. Unfortunately, Alcyoneus began to stir, and he probably wasn't happy.

"Oh, no, you don't," Yang told the giant, before climbing onto his chest and punching him in the face again. The force, as well as a blast from her gauntlet, knocked the giant back into unconsciousness. "Why won't he die?" the brawler asked.

"He can't be killed in his homeland," Annabeth replied. "Luckily, that means we don't need a god to help us kill him, if we can figure out how to drag him into Canada."

"Hold on, I have an idea," Frank said, before his face scrunched up in concentration and his form began to morph. He grew to several times his regular size, his face elongated into a snout and his skin changed to the same reptilian hide as the giant's legs. His legs got thicker, and his arms changed into forelegs. Finally, wings sprouted from his back.

"Does ambrosia make you high, or did that really just happen?" Ruby asked. No one had any idea how Frank had just transformed, so I decided to ask him about it later. He flapped his wings and hefted his massive body into the air, grabbing Alcyoneus' wrist in his huge mouth. Amazingly, Frank was strong enough to lift the giant somewhat, so he started dragging him east. After we all stared, dumbfounded, for a while, Jason realised that Ruby's wound needed dressed to give the nectar and ambrosia time to do their job. He expertly handled this task, making me think he had had a lot of medical experience in the past. When Jason had finished that, Percy looked at Thanatos and said "any chance of transportation of some kind?"

"I can send you to your friend, but no further. Even that is pushing the limits of my privileges," the god answered. He waved his hand, and the world flipped.

When everything was oriented correctly again, I saw Frank, back in human form, looking exhausted, and Alcyoneus, still unconscious.

"I'm assuming this is Canada?" I asked, to which Annabeth nodded. "It looks the same, with less glaciers."

"We can kill this prick now, right?" Yang asked enthusiastically, cracking her knuckles.

"Yes, but be careful," Annabeth told her. The thing is, Yang doesn't know what "careful" means, so she cocked Ember Celica, climbed on top of Alcyoneus yet again, then fired both gauntlets directly into each of his eyes. The giant disintegrated, causing Yang to fall to the ground. I couldn't help laughing at her confusion when the surface she had been standing on was suddenly not there anymore. Leo cheered at our success, and we all high-fived each other. Except for Weiss, because she doesn't do high fives, and Ruby because she was resting.

Suddenly, the air shimmered, and the woman I'd seen several times before appeared in front of us. "Congratulations, heroes," she told us.

"Hera," Annabeth said venomously. _Nice to finally know who this woman is,_ I thought.

"You have done well, but do not celebrate too soon. This was only the beginning. Gaea is rising, along with the rest of her giant children. Our only hope is to prevent her rise before she reaches full strength. Fail, and both worlds will perish," Hera said. "I am already overstepping my boundaries by telling you this, but I will perform one last favour." After the last word, she waved her hand, and the world flipped _again._

This time, we were in Camp-Half Blood. Looking around, I saw that we'd arrived during dinner. Every camper looked up in surprise, having not expected eleven people to appear in the middle of a meal. Their expressions soon changed to confusion when they saw the Romans.

"Who the hell are they?" Clarisse yelled.

"Never mind that, get us a medic!" Yang yelled back, gesturing at her sister. Kids from the Apollo got up from their table and rushed to Ruby's side to view the extent of the damage. A minute later, one of them stood up and said the red-clad girl would be fine after a couple of days in the infirmary. Yang visibly slumped in relief. I knew she would have never forgiven herself if Ruby hadn't been so fortunate.

"Now that that's dealt with, we'll introduce ourselves. I'm Jason, son of Jupiter and praetor of New Rome," Jason said.

"I'm Hazel," the youngest member of our quest party introduced herself.

"And I'm Frank, son of Mars," the beefy boy finished. I realised that I still hadn't asked him how he had turned into a dragon, but decided it could wait.

"Welcome, Romans, to Camp Half-Blood," Chiron greeted them. "And to the rest of you, welcome back. I take it your quest was successful?"

"Yes, but we need to talk privately," Annabeth answered. I figured she wanted to discuss the rise of Gaea and the giants.

"We will, my dear, but I doubt any of you have had a proper meal in days. For now, eat!" the centaur replied. Yang was only too happy to oblige as she and the boys began to demolish what was left of dinner. The rest of the girls were more civilised in taking food and we ate more conservatively, remembering basic table manners.

"Now, come. To the Big House for a mission report," Chiron told us when we were done. We followed him there, and sat in the rec room.

"Well, we succeeded in freeing Thanatos. Now the dead will stay dead," Annabeth started.

"Freed him from what?" Chiron interjected.

"Alcyoneus. And an army of spirits," Athena's daughter answered.

"Say again?" the centaur asked.

"Alcyoneus. This tall, gold prick with a big staff. And no, that's not a euphemism. He actually had a really long polearm," Yang told him. "Don't worry though, I killed him."

"Are you sure?" Chiron asked us all, his face grave.

"Yeah, it was like forty feet long. Also not a euphemism," my partner replied.

"Idiot. He means are we sure it was Alcyoneus. And yes, it was him. He told us so, and he wouldn't die unless we brought him out of his homeland," Weiss cut in.

"Then things are worse than I feared. If Alcyoneus has risen, even if he was defeated, the rest of the Gigantes are sure to follow. And then, Gaea, undoubtedly," Chiron said. "There's only one thing for it."

"And that is?" Leo asked.

"Gaea will attempt to succeed where the Titans failed last summer. We can only assume she'll do it by targeting Mount Olympus," the centaur answered.

"By we already beat the Titans," Percy said. "They threw everything at us, and Olympus still stands. What else can Gaea do, no matter how powerful she is?"

"Kill the flower, the plant lives on. Uproot it, however, and it must perish," Chiron explained. I could tell from Percy's face that he had no idea what that meant.

"You don't mean…?" Annabeth's voice was barely a whisper. Trust wisdom's daughter to understand immediately.

"Yes. Gaea's armies will no doubt travel to Greece, and destroy the original Mount Olympus, killing the Olympians at their roots," Chiron said. The demigods sat in stunned silence, while Weiss, Yang and I stared around the room in confusion. _To shut Leo up, it must be serious,_ I thought.

"And how will this affect Remnant?" Weiss asked everyone.

"It will collapse the boundaries between the worlds, allowing the Gigantes to cross over and obliterate your society. Creatures of Grimm may also come here," Annabeth told her. How she knew that, I had no idea. It may have been a guess, but it was correct, judging by Chiron's grave nod.

"So what do we do?" Percy asked.

"We send you to Greece, and you stop Gaea and her army. Also, avoid the earth, because it will try to kill you," Chiron answered. _Yang's probably gonna ask how hard that can be,_ I thought, but to my surprise, the blonde remained silent. "But you'll need transportation. Mortal transport is too dangerous, and the gods can't send you to a quest destination because of the Ancient Laws. You'll have to get creative," the centaur added.

"We could build a ship," Leo suggested. "It would have to be able to fly, but Hephaestus' cabin could manage it."

We all agreed that it was a good idea, but Weiss pointed out that we would need designs, and a place to construct it. Leo's face fell, as he hadn't thought of that, but Chiron knew something none of us did.

"Back during the Civil War, when Greeks and Romans opposed each other, there was a bunker in the woods used by the Hephaestus cabin as a command outpost. There were plans to build a warship, which was designed and never constructed. The place has been abandoned for decades, but it stands to reason that the blueprints are still inside," he said. We followed him out of the Big House and into the forest, where we eventually came to a cliff face. He told Leo that a child of Hephaestus was the only one who could open it, and instructed the mechanic to place his hand on the rock. Leo did so, and lines of fire spread across the cliff face, eventually forming a colossal door. It opened, and we all entered a cavernous room filled with workbenches and fading blueprints. Seeing everything in the bunker, Leo adopted the expression Ruby gets when she enters a bakery or a weapon store, and he declared he was in heaven.

"I suggest you start work tomorrow," Chiron said. "The Fourth of July fireworks are tonight." I had no idea why they had fireworks on the fourth of July, but I decided not to ask.

"Fireworks, huh?" Yang said. "Blake, wanna join me?" For a second, I thought all four ears were deceiving me, because it sounded like Yang had just asked me out. I looked at her smiling face, and agreed nonchalantly, trying not to be obvious about my eagerness.

Later that evening, everyone headed down to the beach, where Percy told Yang and I that the Hephaestus cabin would be putting on "one hell of a show". Yang had a picnic blanket that she'd acquired under circumstances she hadn't shared with me, and she dragged me away from everyone else. She spread her blanket out on the sand and sat down, patting the space beside her. I sat down, hoping I hadn't misinterpreted her invitation to this event earlier. The fireworks started, and they turned out to be very impressive. Halfway through the show, I felt Yang take my hand in hers. I felt a blush rise onto my face as I turned to look at her, and I saw her smiling back at me. I couldn't believe this was happening, but I wasn't gonna let disbelief stop me from enjoying it. I leaned against her, resting my head on her shoulder, with a contented smile on my face. I missed most of the rest of the show, because I was too focused on the fact that Yang was still holding my hand, but then she did something that disappointed me. She moved away so that I was no longer leaning on her, then turned to face me fully. I also turned, and we stared into each other's eyes for several seconds. _Is she gonna do what I think?_ I wondered when neither of us moved. This question was answered when the beautiful blonde brawler in front of me started to lean in slowly. I reciprocated the action, closing the gap. I closed my eyes as our lips met, relishing the feel of the kiss. This was my first kiss, so I had no prior experience to compare it to, but it was the most enjoyable moment of my life. Yang's lips were incredibly soft as they pressed against mine, and I wished we never had to separate.

Unfortunately, we couldn't stay locked at the lips forever, because we both had to breathe, so we separate and look into each other's eyes some more, both of us smiling broadly.

"That was amazing. Like, seriously. Fireworks were going off," Yang said after a few seconds. I rolled my eyes at the pun, before kissing her again. After pulling back, I leaned against her again and caught the last minute of the firework display.

When Yang and I returned to the guest cabin, we were met with a surprise. Two of the beds had been replaced with a single queen-size bed, which had a note left on it. The elaborate handwriting read _I thought you girls might appreciate this little gift. Enjoy!_ It wasn't signed, but it looked to have been written by a woman.

"Who left us this?" Yang asked me. I shrugged, then we got ready for bed. We decided that we would share the new queen bed, so we climbed under the covers together and shared another kiss, before falling asleep in each other's embrace.


	6. Chapter 6

**Blake**

I woke up in Yang's warm and comforting embrace, confirming that the events of the night before had actually transpired, and hadn't just been a pleasant dream. The daylight streaming through the windows of the cabin, and the absence of Weiss, told me that it was late morning. This meant that I had slept in, in stark contrast to my usual habit of rising early. I chalked it up to having shared a bed with Yang, and gently shifted the blonde's arms so I could get up and begin my day.

After stretching, I looked at the clock and found that it was eleven a.m. _We missed breakfast,_ I thought. As I pondered another means of getting food before lunch was served, my sleeping girlfriend began to stir.

"Morning, Blake," she said sleepily.

"Good morning, Yang," I answered.

"Can we go get food after we get dressed?" she asked, not realizing the time. Or maybe she did know what time it was, and she just forgot that Camp Half-Blood didn't serve food at all hours of the day the way Beacon did.

"If it takes an hour to get dressed, we can," I replied, gesturing at the clock. "Otherwise, you'll have to wait."

She groaned, but got out of bed and planted a kiss on my lips, pulling away before I could get into it. _Such a tease,_ I thought, before putting my hand on the back of her head and pulling her in for a proper kiss. I enjoyed the feel of her lips on mine just as much as I had the night before, if not even more. I pulled back and smiled at her.

" _That_ is how you kiss your girlfriend," I told Yang. She shrugged her shoulders in an _eh, fair point_ way, then suggested we get dressed so we could "go do stuff", as she put it. When questioned as to what "stuff" she had in mind, she said she had no idea. I rolled my eyes and put on my usual outfit, before tying my bow over my cat ears.

"You know those ears are really cute, right?" Yang asked.

"I'm glad you think so, but I don't think Faunus exist here. It would look really weird to everyone else to see me without my bow," I explained. "However, that doesn't mean I'll keep my true identity hidden from everyone."

"I hope, when we get home, you'll someday be able to go without it and be left alone," she told me with a smile.

"Me too, Yang. Me too." With that, we headed out of the cabin to find something to do.

Yang wanted to visit Ruby in the infirmary, so we made our way over there to see how our leader was doing. When we arrived, we saw the optimistic girl on her feet. She seemed perfectly steady, and her face was back to its normal colour, so I figured magical healing was far more effective than anything I was used to.

"Oh, hey, guys!" Ruby exclaimed happily when she saw us. "I'm allowed to walk around now, I just have to take it easy. Will Solace, from the Apollo cabin, at least I think that's where he said he's from, says I'll be completely fine by tomorrow!"

"That's great!" Yang said, equally enthusiastically. She cautiously wrapped her arms around her sister, being careful not to hurt the younger girl. "How do you feel?"

"Totally fine! It still hurts a little though," Ruby answered.

"Glad to hear it," I told her.

"Hey, Blake, wanna race up the climbing wall?" Yang asked me. I nodded, and we headed in that direction. Ruby followed us, saying she wanted to watch. When we got there, the leader of Team RWBY counted down from three, then yelled at us to go.

Yang and I immediately started climbing. The first twenty feet were easy enough, but then hand and footholds became smaller and scarcer. Add to that the lava pouring down, and the shaking, and we had a very interesting race ahead of us. I had the advantage of jumping off my shadow clones to skip several feet at a time, but Yang possessed more upper body strength, meaning we were fairly evenly matched. We were neck and neck until the last five feet, where I jumped off a clone and reached the top.

"Hey, no fair! You skipped at least half the wall!" Yang complained.

"You're stronger than me. I had to even the odds," I replied. "And might I add that you didn't have a problem with me using my Semblance until I won?"

"Yeah, you're right. I was just messing with you. Nice job on beating me, by the way," she answered as she climbed up. She then surprised me with a kiss, which I was glad to reciprocate.

"Uhhh… What?" we heard Ruby ask from below us.

"Oh yeah, forgot to tell you. Blake and I are dating now," Yang explained.

"That's great! I'm happy for you," our leader told us.

"Thanks, Ruby," I answered. Yang and I then climbed back down the wall to do something else.

"I wanna beat up the Ares cabin again. Those guys are annoying," the blonde declared.

"You do that. I'm gonna do something civilized," I told her. She nodded, and ran off to find the children of the war god. _I wonder if Athena's kids play chess. It would make sense, considering who their mother is,_ I thought, before heading off to find Annabeth. It took a few minutes to track her down, and she wholeheartedly agreed to a game of chess when I suggested it. We headed to the Athena cabin, where there were plenty of chess sets. She took the white pieces; I had the black ones, hence she got to go first. In the first few moves, I could tell that beating her would be no cakewalk. She seemed to be thinking two or three turns ahead at all times, easily anticipating anything I tried to do. I decided to throw a red herring and place my queen in an offensive position, hoping to distract her from my rook. It seemed to work, because I was able to place her in check on my next turn, although I had to sacrifice my queen to do it. Unfortunately, I had overlooked her knight, which she placed between my rook and her king. Eventually, it was clear that neither of us were going to win, so I forced a stalemate.

"Wow. You're really good," Annabeth said when we were finished playing.

"You are too," I replied.

"Well, yeah, but what do you expect? My mom's the goddess of wisdom and battle strategy. It comes naturally to me," she told me. "Besides, I couldn't beat you, and you don't have godly heritage to help you."

"Fair point," I concede. "I wonder how Leo's doing with the ship."

"It's probably going well. Hephaestus' kids are _really_ good with tools. Should we go see?"

"Yeah, let's go," I answered. We headed off into the forest, joined by Yang, who had seen us when she exited the arena. Presumably, she was done humiliating Ares' kids again. When we arrived at Bunker Nine, we saw the structure of a two-hundred-foot warship in the centre. The ship was obviously far from completion, but to see that the Hephaestus cabin had made that much progress in a single day was highly encouraging.

"Oh, hi, guys!" Leo called out when he saw us. "Pretty sweet, huh?"

"It is very impressive," I answered truthfully. I honestly hadn't expected this much of the ship to be done so soon. "Do you know how long it'll take to finish?"

"A few days, probably. A week at most."

"That's good. We can't afford any delays for this quest," Annabeth said. "If Gaea wakes up fully, we're all gonna die."

"Aren't you just buckets of fun?" Yang asked sarcastically. "I know this is serious business, but lightening up a little won't hurt anyone."

"Yeah, you're right. I'm just a little stressed out form thinking about strategies to beat the giants," Annabeth replied.

"Hey, we'll get it done. Trust me. Anything tries to hurt Blake or Ruby, it dies, immortal or not," Yang said with an encouraging smile. Annabeth laughed at the brawler's confidence in her abilities.

"Never mind that, bad guys will run in fear when they see the weaponry on the _ArgoII_ ," Leo cut in. Seeing our confused faces, he added "That's what the ship's gonna be called."

"Just don't let Ruby handle them. She'll drool all over your fancy new warship," Yang said.

"She's too young for me anyway," Leo replied.

"What was that?" Yang asked, eyes crimson.

"She's uhhh… Too young to use the weapons," the mechanic answered, probably saving his life.

"That's what I thought," Yang told him. With that, we left so Leo and his siblings could get on with building the ship.

The next few days were uneventful, save for Ruby freaking out when she found out about the destructive capabilities the _Argo II_ was going to have. On Friday night, after dinner, Leo stood up to make an announcement.

"The _Argo II_ is complete and ready for action. We can head to Greece tonight, or leave first thing tomorrow morning. Either way, it'll take a couple of weeks to get there."

"Cross the Atlantic and most of the Mediterranean in a couple of weeks? How fast _is_ this thing?" Hazel asked.

"As ships go, pretty damn fast. It also flies," Leo answered proudly. I had no idea what the Atlantic or the Mediterranean was, because I still hadn't looked at a map of this world, nor did I know how large it was compared to Remnant, but I figured our destination must have been pretty far away for Hazel to be that surprised.

"I say tonight. I don't feel like waiting," Yang declared.

"Agreed. We don't want to give the giants any more time than we have to," Annabeth said. As it turned out, all eleven members of our quest party were either indifferent to the departure time, or preferred to leave sooner rather than later. Thus, we rushed to prepare everything we thought we would need and got ready to save the world.


	7. Chapter 7

**Blake**

After preparing our supplies, Percy, Annabeth, Leo, Piper, Jason, Frank, Hazel, Ruby, Weiss, Yang and I boarded the Argo II. The upper level had ten cabins, one for each of the demigods, one for our "chaperone", a violent, ageing man with goat legs named Gleeson Hedge and two for the four members of Team RWBY. I had no problem sharing, even if the cabin was slightly cramped, because it meant I got to sleep with Yang every night. Of course, I wouldn't use that wording with her or Leo around, because they have some of the smuttiest minds of anyone I've ever met. Not that I have a problem with Yang being smutty, or anything else about her, I just prefer not to have people pointing out sexual connotations of things I say. The upper level also contained the mess hall and the galley.

The lower level of the ship contained storage, where we kept ammo for Crescent Rose, Gambol Shroud and Ember Celica, Dust for Myrtenaster and various magical substances including nectar and ambrosia, as well as some jars of something called Greek fire. I didn't know what it actually was, but Leo assured me it would "make monsters go kaboom", as he put it. Also on the lower level was the engine, which ran on precise measurements of things I'd never heard of, as well as the stables for pegasi, should any happen to come aboard. The sickbay was also there, but I hoped none of us would ever need to use it. Finally, there was the armory, where we stored our weapons when not in use. Well, not Crescent Rose, because Ruby refused to part with it unless she absolutely had to.

"Everyone ready to go?" Leo asked, standing at the helm. Everyone nodded, so he fired up the engine, causing the ship to rise into the air. He turned the bow eastwards and flipped a lever, which sent the ship forwards. Below us, campers were waving and wishing us good luck. I really wished they hadn't. In my experience, being wished "good luck" always meant something bad was going to happen. It was getting somewhat late, so Yang and I decided to go to bed. Leo, who, along with all the other members of the quest group, knew the brawler and I were dating by this point, had had the foresight to fit our cabin with a double bed for us to share, rather than two single ones.

"Do you think we can actually stop Gaea?" Yang asked me as we were getting ready for bed.

"I don't know, but we have to do everything we can to try," I answered. "If we don't, can we really call ourselves Huntresses, even if this isn't our world?"

"Good point. And I'll be damned if I let anything happen to you or Ruby."

"I know, honey," I said, before kissing her passionately. Before things got too heated, there was a knock at the door.

"Who the hell is that?" Yang groaned, walking over to answer it. When she did, Gleeson stood in the doorway, arms folded. The look on his face would have been intimidating on the face of anyone who wasn't as short as him.

"Just laying out some rules. I know you two are sharing a bed, so make sure sleeping is the only thing you do in it. I've been assigned to make sure all you kids behave," he told us.

"Listen, Shorty, I don't know what kind of people you're used to dealing with, but what I do in my bed with my girlfriend is between me and her, and no one else. Got it?" Yang asked him, glaring. He wasn't fazed.

"You get up to anything you shouldn't be doing, I'll send you both to Greece the hard way. Do I make myself clear, cupcake?"

"I would love to see you try," Yang answered, shutting the door in his face and locking it. Turning back to me, she said "come on, Blake, let's get some sleep."

We climbed into bed and briefly kissed again, before I allowed sleep to overtake me. I dreamed I was following several nondescript vans down a highway, heading east. I had no idea who was in them, or if the dream was even real, but I doubted it was anyone friendly.

I woke at dawn, and carefully extracted myself from Yang's arms. Once dressed, I decided to head outside, where I found Leo at the helm. He waved when he saw me, and told me we were making good progress. Looking over the railing, I found that we were in the middle of an ocean, except several hundred feet above it. I didn't know how fast the ship was going, or how far we'd traveled overnight, but it was fast enough for me to feel the wind, and have my hair blown back. I figured we were moving considerably faster than walking pace but nowhere near, say, the speed we'd be traveling on a train, or a plane for that matter. I leaned on the railing and stood in silence for a while. Thankfully, Leo had learnt by now that I don't like to be disturbed, so he left me well enough alone.

Some interval of time later, the silence was interrupted by an enthusiastic "morning, Blake!" and a tackle-hug from my excitable blonde girlfriend. Luckily for both of us, Yang had had the sense to approach me from the side, moving parallel to the railing, so there was no danger of us going overboard. I seriously doubted our Aura would have been adequate to absorb the impact had we fallen to the water below.

"Good morning, Yang. I'm glad to see you too, but was tackling me really necessary?" I replied, with a smile on my face. She stuck her tongue out at me, before turning to say hi to Leo.

"Yo, Leo, how much longer til we arrive?" she asked.

"Just under two weeks," the hyperactive mechanic replied. Yang groaned.

"There's nothing to do on this boat!" she complained, before getting an idea. "Well, there is one thing…"

"No, Yang," I told her, knowing exactly what she was thinking. "There are ten other people onboard," I added with a wink. She looked at me, not sure whether to take the second part seriously. The thing was, I knew full well that the presence of other people wouldn't deter her, because they'd all be in different cabins. I decided I'd have to come up with a better reason that would suffice for two weeks. I heard Yang's stomach growl, and realized that I was also hungry. We headed down to the mess hall, where we found most of the others awake and waiting. The only ones absent were Leo, who was accounted for, and Piper. We were told that she'd been nominated for breakfast duty and would be along soon. We all chatted about meaningless things as we waited for our food, which arrived a few minutes later. Piper had made pancakes, which came as a mild surprise to me, as I hadn't been aware what the galley had been stocked with. As we ate, Leo joined us.

"We're moving along nicely. Heading directly towards Athens at about twenty miles an hour," he announced. "For a trireme, that's pretty damn fast."

"Yeah, but what about when we enter the Mediterranean?" Annabeth questioned.

"What do you mean? It's a big sea, we won't have to slow down," Leo replied.

"It's full of monsters."

"Please. Remember that time when we sailed the Sea of Monsters on a _lifeboat_? We made it out," Percy told her.

"Everything in the gods' homeland is older and more deadly. The Mediterranean is the _original_ Sea of Monsters. We'll be lucky to make it a day without being attacked," Annabeth answered.

"Why do you think I built Crescent Rose?" Ruby asked.

"The _Mare Nostrum_ is filled with giant sea monsters and shit. A scythe won't do much more than annoy them, no matter how impressive it is," Jason replied. "Why do you think the Romans avoided sailing as much as they could?" The conversation continued along a similar vein, with Gleeson occasionally contributing "I'll kill the cupcakes" or something along those lines. During this time, I thought about whether or not I should reveal my heritage to the demigods. I came to the decision that we were putting our lives in each other's hands, so they had a right to know the truth. I waited for a lull in conversation, then spoke up.

"Can you guys keep a secret?" Everyone looked at me, somewhat confused, but each of them promised that whatever I was about to tell them would stay in the room and they wouldn't speak of it to anyone who wasn't there. "Well, I've decided you should know why I wear a bow." Yang looked surprised when I said that.

"Don't freak out, guys. It's probably not the weirdest thing you've ever seen," she told the demigods. As she said that, my hand snaked its way to the knot between my ears and untied it, letting the bow fall to the floor. Upon seeing my cat ears, the demigods looked… Surprised, to say the least.

"I'm a Faunus. We're very similar to humans, except we share physical traits with animals. In my case, cat ears," I explained. "I hide them because many humans on Remnant are prejudiced towards my kind, and I wanted people to see me for _who_ I am, not _what_ I am."

"Hey, my brother only has one eye. I'm not judging you," Percy told me.

"Well, if we're sharing secrets, I have a pretty big one," Hazel told us suddenly. "I should be dead."

"Wait, what?" Frank asked.

"I was born in 1928. Gaea corrupted my mother, and forced me to help her raise Alcyoneus. That's how I knew where to find him. Before he could rise fully, I used my power over the earth's minerals to collapse the cavern on top of him and myself, killing me and slowing him. Over eighty years later, my half-brother Nico shows up in Asphodel and brings me back to the land of the living. Here I am," Hazel told us.

After hearing her story, we all fell silent. Suddenly, my revelation about my heritage seemed trivial. By this point, we had all finished eating, so the silence was awkward. I politely excused myself and went back outside for some solitude.

The next few days were uneventful. After what seemed like an eternity, I finally sighted something other than water ahead of us. A large rock, jutting out into the ocean. Annabeth told me it was the rock of Gibraltar, which marked the entrance to the Mediterranean. Apparently, things were soon to get interesting.

At first, the Mediterranean didn't seem much different from the Atlantic. However, barely three hours had passed when the whole ship shuddered. We were in the water at this point, not hovering over it, so I figured one of the sea monsters Annabeth and Jason had talked about was attacking us. A quick look over the railing confirmed this theory. Whatever it was was still underwater, so I couldn't discern any details, but it was big. It rammed the ship again, and Yang yelled at Leo to fire the ballistae. He did, and an explosion rocked the deck and created a colossal wave. The good news was, the monster was either dead or scared off. The bad news was, the wave doused me in salt water, soaking me from head to toe. With that, I decided I'd had enough fresh air, so I headed inside to dry off and get changed.

Predictably, Annabeth's statement about not going a day without getting attacked was correct, to an extent. It turned out we were attacked almost every hour. It became a routine for us: whoever was on the top deck when a monster showed up would man the ballistae or crossbows depending on where the target was in relation to the ship and try to send it back to Tartarus. Failing that, the person would improvise, which usually meant using the Greek fire or the Dust from the storeroom. This system worked quite well for a while, until we got closer to Athens. We were soon being attacked on all sides by several monsters at a time, which eventually led to hull damage that Leo said we would have to land to get fixed.

"Where are we now?" Jason asked when he heard this.

"Not too far from Rome," Leo answered. "We can be there in a couple of hours. Shouldn't take more than a day to fix the ship."

"I guess it'll be nice to be off this boat for a while," Percy said. "And I've always wanted to visit Rome."

"Well, if we're taking a shore leave, we'll need to establish some rules," Annabeth declared. "No one go too far or travel alone, and we should all try to avoid fights. We don't want to attract attention to ourselves. The Mist will hide the ship, but not us."

We all agreed that that seemed fair, so everyone gathered some basic supplies like nectar and ambrosia in case anything bad happened. I was afraid I'd have to leave Gambol Shroud on the _Argo II,_ but Percy told me and the rest of Team RWBY he'd been practicing manipulating the Mist and that he would be able to hide our weapons from mortal eyes. After snapping his fingers at Ruby, Weiss and I in turn, he declared that mortals wouldn't look twice when we passed by, except maybe our clothing our Weiss' hair. Looking at the R and W of Team RWBY, I found that I couldn't see Crescent Rose or Myrtenaster. I knew the weapons were there, but it was like my brain refused to process them. I forced myself to really look, and eventually, after some intense concentration, my eyes registered the presence of Ruby's most prized possession and Weiss' more elegant rapier.

A couple of hours later, a city came into view. It was clearly older than Salt Lake City, and seemed less organised. From the air, all I could see we're sprawling streets going in every direction with no rhyme or reason. It was obvious that getting lost wouldn't be difficult here, and our enemies could very easily divide and conquer. Suddenly, leaving the ship didn't seem like such a good idea, but Yang really wanted to get out and explore, and my desire to make sure she was safe at all times outweighed the rational part of my brain screaming at me not to go.

We landed in a park not too far from the centre of Rome. The mortals below didn't even look up as we descended, so I figured the Mist was more powerful than I thought. Before we left the ship, Annabeth pulled out a silver laptop computer with a glowing triangle on top and used it to print out some cards.

"International credit cards. You can buy stuff, get into museums, whatever. Just don't go overboard," she said, handing them around. With that, we disembarked and headed into the city.

Yang and I decided to check out the large, round, crumbling structure we'd seen on the way down. Walking in that direction, we almost immediately got lost in the sprawling alleys. Luckily, the walls looked easy enough to climb, so I figured it would be child's play for me to get to the rooftops and scout our route from above. I did so, and found that there was a main road we could stick to and get to our destination immediately. I climbed back down, ignoring the questioning looks from the mortals who saw me, and informed Yang of my findings. We quickly got to the road in question and walked down it, marveling at how different Rome was from Vale. From my understanding, this city was over two thousand years old.

We got to the building, which turned out to be the Coliseum, or _il Colosseo,_ as it was known locally. After using the card Annabeth had given us to gain admission, Yang and I headed inside to explore. It was an amphitheater, but much larger than any I'd ever seen. We got to the middle section of the structure, where you would sit to see events. In the centre of the Coliseum, where the tour guide informed us gladiator fights once took place, we saw something that really shouldn't have been there.


	8. Chapter 8

**Blake**

In the centre of the Coliseum, Yang and I saw something that really shouldn't have been there. There were two men dressed in Greek combat armor, which would have been fine if they weren't both twelve feet tall. One had purple hair; the other had green hair. Even worse than the presence of two giants, they were surrounded by cages. At first, all I could see inside them were various unfamiliar creatures, which I assumed to be the monsters of this world. However, another look revealed the Alpha Ursa in one of the cages, as well as several regular Ursai and Beowolves. The other thing the giants had was a giant bronze urn, which looked large enough to hold several people, albeit uncomfortably.

"How the hell did they get Grimm?" Yang asked quietly. "And what's in the urn?"

"No idea, but we have to alert the others," I answered just as quietly. "Not to mention getting the mortals out of here. Whatever those giants are up to, innocent people will just get in the way."

"I don't know how we can do either of those things."

I thought for a while, then had a plan. "Get to the exit and get ready to seal it on my signal," I told Yang.

"What's the signal?" she asked.

"You won't miss it, honey," I answered, smiling. She nodded, and ran off. After a minute or so, I figured the blonde would be in position, so I unsheathed my katana and activated the pistol. I aimed at the air and fired several shots in quick succession, yelling at everyone to get out. Predictably, chaos ensued as mortals screamed and ran for the exit. Hopefully Yang would have the sense to seal it when everyone was out.

Thirty seconds after everyone was out of my sight, Yang appeared, looking triumphant. "All right, so what about alerting the others? Any ideas?" she asked.

"Well, I imagine news about a teenage girl firing a gun in the Coliseum will travel fast. They shouldn't be long," I said, hoping I was right. "Meanwhile, we have to make sure the Grimm don't get set loose in the city."

"Good point. Let's bust some heads," Yang replied, cracking her knuckles and activating Ember Celica. She then ran off in true Yang fashion, not even waiting for a plan. I rolled my eyes and followed, drawing both blades.

When we arrived back in the middle of the Coliseum, the monsters and the Grimm had all been released from their cages and were patrolling the area. The giants were looking around warily, almost fearfully. Yang and I remained out of sight, but I knew it was only a matter of time until one of the monsters found us.

"I'll kill the big pricks, you take the monsters, kay?" Yang asked. Without waiting for an answer, she jumped over the low wall we were crouched behind and charged. I sighed at her recklessness and also vaulted the wall, slicing through the nearest Beowolf with ease. After dispatching half a dozen enemies, I realized that there were more than I had thought. This wouldn't be as easy as anticipated.

"Stupid mortal! You can't beat us! I am Ephialtes!" I heard someone yell behind me. Based on the volume, I deduced it was one of the giants.

"And I am Otis! We were born to kill Dionysus himself! What can you do?" another loud voice stated.

"What is it with you people and terrible names?" Yang asked them, in the cockiest tone she could muster. Like her fight with Alcyoneus, I couldn't watch this one because of all the other enemies I had to contend with. The monsters from this world were certainly interesting creatures to observe, it had to be said. A fair number of them were green women with serpentine legs. Another kind were white-faced women with blood-red lips and flaming hair, with a donkey leg and a bronze leg each. I killed a few more monsters and turned to see how Yang was faring. She punched the green-haired giant in the face, firing Ember Celica as she did so. He disintegrated, causing the purple-haired one to cry out in rage. I was about to congratulate Yang, when I remembered what Annabeth had said, back in Salt Lake City. _They're almost unstoppable, because they can only be killed by a god and a hero._ Alcyoneus had been the only exception, it was only in his homeland that he was immortal. That meant the giant Yang had just beaten wouldn't be staying out of the picture long. As I realized this, the dust that had been the giant began to reform. The green-haired figure rose, and he didn't look happy.

"You think you can kill me on your own? You need a _god,_ idiot," he snarled. "Ephialtes, kill her."

That annoyed me, because only I get to call Yang an idiot. I charged the recently-reformed giant, who I deduced to be the one called Otis, intending to turn him back to dust. Yang and I took down both giants several times, but without a god we couldn't kill them properly. Furthermore, we also had to fight the monsters and Grimm, meaning we were both getting tired.

Luckily, most of our companions showed up not too much later, taking some of the heat off Yang and I. The only ones absent were Percy and Annabeth, and no one had any idea where they were. We still didn't have a god on our side, which was an issue none of us had a solution for. It wasn't long before all the monsters and Grimm were beaten, leaving only the giants. It was a stalemate, however, because they couldn't beat four Huntresses and five demigods, but we couldn't make them stay dead without a god helping. With no way to solve this dilemma, I decided to take a look in the massive urn while everyone else distracted the giants. I climbed up it and, with great difficulty, pushed the lid off.

Peering inside, I was met with a surprise. A skinny kid with black hair who couldn't have been more than fourteen or fifteen lay at the bottom, shivering slightly. If it weren't for the shivering, I would have thought he was dead, as he wasn't moving other than that. Also in the urn were four people I hadn't thought I'd see for a while.

Jaune Arc, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren sat in a huddle, looking like they hadn't had nearly enough food. I had no idea how Team JNPR had gotten here, but I was glad they had.

"Blake? Is that you?" Jaune asked when he saw me.

"Yeah. There's a few others here, we'll get you out. And bring that kid, too," I answered.

"Was that Jaune?" Ruby asked, having heard her fellow leader's voice. I nodded, and said we had to get them out.

"Blake, give me Gambol Shroud. I'll tie the ribbon round my arm and throw them the other end. I can pull them up one by one," Yang told me.

"I have a better idea," Jason declared. Before he could elaborate, Ephialtes reformed, so Jason stabbed him with his golden sword, killing him again before he could react. Jason then started to rise into the air. "I can control wind currents," he explained, answering the question on everyone's minds. "I can fly them out."

Five minutes later, Team JNPR and the skinny kid, whom Hazel identified as her half-brother Nico, were out of the urn, blinking in the sun. Introductions were made, while I observed the state of my fellow students. They looked bedraggled, indicating that they had been in the urn for several days at least.

"So how did you get here?" Yang asked them.

"First of all, where exactly is 'here'?" Jaune replied.

"The Roman Coliseum. You're not on Remnant anymore," Piper told him.

"Right. Well, about a week ago, Professor Ozpin sent us to investigate some strange activity in the Forest of Forever Fall. When we arrived, we saw those big guys, rounding up Grimm and putting them in cages. Figuring whatever they were up to wasn't anything good, we tried to attack them. There was a loud bang and a white flash, and we woke up in that urn with Nico, the skinny kid. He was awake at first, but then he pulled out some seeds and ate one, going into a trance. That was when he started shivering, and he ate another seed roughly every day, but it was hard to tell. We were barely given any food, and our Aura is basically the only reason we're alive," Jaune recounted.

"Any idea why they took you?" I asked.

"We heard them say they were gonna use us as bargaining chips if they got the chance. I would assume they meant with you," Pyrrha answered. "Who are they, anyway? And why won't they die?"

"Gigantes. Children of Terra and Tartarus. They can only be killed by a god and a hero working together," Hazel explained. "We can go into more detail later, but right now we need to figure out how to get a god to help us beat them, otherwise they'll keep reforming."

Before anything else was said, a large shadow descended over our group. Looking up, I was pleasantly surprised to see the _Argo II._

"Yo, guys! Stand back!" came Leo's voice. Immediately, we all ran towards the stands. When we turned back, Leo decided now would be an excellent time to fire the ballistae at the giant twins, turning them to dust yet again. That would have been fine, except he also blew a hole in the ground.

"Leo? _What the fuck did you do?!_ " a familiar voice yelled from inside the hole.

"Percy?" Jason called. Looking over the edge of the hole, I saw Percy and Annabeth, as well as a massive golden statue of a goddess.

"We need to get this out!" Annabeth called. I wanted to question why a statue was important, but Annabeth suddenly screamed. She had fallen and was being dragged to the edge of an even deeper hole that looked much older than the one Leo had made. A quick inspection revealed the cause: a thick, silvery strand was stuck to Annabeth's ankle, while the other end was in the hole she was being dragged towards. It looked like spider silk, but there was so much of it I wondered if it wasn't something else. As I pondered this, Annabeth madly tried to find purchase on the floor she was on, while Percy ran towards her. He caught up just as she went over the edge and she grabbed his ankle, pulling him down with her. Just before they both fell, Percy managed to grab the ledge, keeping the two of them from certain death.

"Percy! I have to let go! You're not strong enough to pull us up," Annabeth told him. "I'll survive the fall and close the Doors of Death on the inside. Get to the mortal side! GO!"

"I'm not leaving you," Percy replied. "We go together." With that, he let go of the ledge. The two of them vanished into darkness a second later. The rest of us stood in stunned silence, believing Percy and Annabeth to be dead.

Naturally, Weiss was the first to get over her shock. "Annabeth said we need the statue. Get it, Leo!" she commanded. "You have the harpoons, fire them and pick up the statue."

Leo did so, or at least I assume he did, because cables shot from the ship and wrapped around the statue. The cables then retracted into the _Argo II,_ pulling the statue up. I saw that it was about forty feet tall, with a strikingly realistic face. I wasn't sure what goddess it represented, or who had made it, but the sculptor had done a very good job.

Suddenly, the air shimmered and a woman appeared. She was the woman from the statue, dressed in combat armour. "You have done well in finding the Athena Parthenos. It would have been preferable if my daughter hadn't fallen into Tartarus to get it, but that cannot be helped. Return the statue to the States before the Romans attack Camp Half-Blood," she told us.

"Lady Athena," Piper said, curtseying. "If I may, would you assist us in killing the giant twins?"

The goddess turned and faced Ephialtes and Otis. A spear materialized in her hand, which she thrust at Otis. He disintegrated and the spear morphed into a sword. Athena spun and sliced through Ephialtes, who also disintegrated. With that finished, she began to glow. Jason warned us to avert our eyes, so we all did. There was a golden flash, and Athena was gone when I turned back. Meanwhile, the statue had been pulled all the way up to the ship and rammed into the stables after the bay doors had been opened. We were all still shellshocked, excluding JNPR and Weiss. We had beaten Ephialtes and Otis, but it was a hollow victory. Percy and Annabeth were gone. Dejectedly, everyone boarded the _Argo II,_ which Leo had landed near us, and met up in the mess hall to make further plans.

During this time, Nico woke up. "Percy and Annabeth aren't dead," he told us quietly. His voice was really weak. "They're in Tartarus. If they can find the Doors of Death on that side and close them, and we get to the mortal side and close them, we'll have an edge over Gaea. Her forces won't be able to return."

"Any idea where to look?" Jason asked him.

"Epirus. In Greece," Nico answered. "But they'll be heavily guarded and hard to find."

"Leo, set a course. We're saving our friends," Ruby told him defiantly. "Then we're going to this Athens place, and we're killing Gaea, saving both worlds from destruction." The determination in the girl's voice lifted my spirits, and seemed to lift everyone else's. Leo headed to his command seat, and we soon felt the ship rise, ready to take us east.


	9. Chapter 9

**Blake**

After Ruby had made those defiant statements, the newly repaired _Argo II_ ascended from the Coliseum and headed east. According to Nico, we would need to reach an underground temple in a place called Epirus, where the mortal side of the Doors of Death was located. Apparently, these doors were like a shortcut for Gaea's minions to leave Tartarus, which more likely than not would include the giants we'd already beaten. This information boded ill, as it implied that there would be dozens, if not hundreds, of enemies on the other side of the doors, which Percy and Annabeth would have to avoid or defeat in order to close them and get back to the mortal world.

Even before going to the temple, Jason said we'd need to find Diocletian's scepter. Apparently, it would allow Nico to raise an army of spirits to help us defeat the monsters that would undoubtedly be guarding the Doors. Our course was changed to meet this goal, and we headed to a place called Split, in a country called Croatia, where Diocletian's Palace was located. Along the way, I learned that he had been a Roman emperor in ancient times. My team and I also brought Team JNPR up to speed on what was going on. Jaune looked awestruck when we got to the part about how Yang had single-handedly taken on and then beaten Alcyoneus, then him and his team were horrorstruck almost immediately afterwards when they heard about Ruby's injury. Their horror was short-lived, however, when they remembered that they had seen Ruby in prime condition. Their faces remained impassive for the remainder of the story.

"By the way, did Ozpin seem to be hiding anything when he sent you guys out?" Yang asked when we were done.

"No, why?" Jaune replied.

"When he spoke to us, he seemed to be withholding information. Then, the day after we arrived here, we found out that he knew exactly what he was getting us into," I explained.

"He probably figured you guys could handle anything this world could throw at you," Pyrrha told us.

"Except that the earth itself is stirring against us, trying to prevent us from reaching this Athens place," Weiss pointed out. "If he knew that, why would he send first-years?"

"Didn't Chiron say Ozpin told him Hera had selected us? He might be a skilled Huntsman, but he's not about to disobey a _goddess_ ," Ruby said. Weiss merely shrugged in response. "Oh, did you hear the good news?" Ruby asked Team JNPR excitedly. I rolled my eyes, knowing exactly what she was thinking, but made no effort to stop her.

"Enlighten us, Ruby," Ren said calmly.

"Blake and Yang are dating now!" the red-clad girl exclaimed. Our fellow students were all taken aback. Nora recovered first.

"You're _together_ -together?!" she yelled. "Congratulations!" This response was exactly the kind one would expect from the hyperactive girl. In fact, it was slightly calmer than I thought it would be.

"Yup," Yang answered happily, putting her arm around my waist. Despite how stressed out I was about everything that had happened since reaching Rome, the heat from the brawler's body calmed me immensely. I suddenly felt guilty about being stressed, because I remembered that Percy and Annabeth were in Tartarus, where the slightest mistake could get them killed. Compared to them, I had it easy.

At some point during the journey to Split, I was outside when we suddenly got boarded by a crew of dolphin-hybrids, led by a masked figure in full Greek combat armour. I noticed his sword was made of gold, not bronze, but it was of the same form as those used by the demigods of Camp Half-Blood. In moments, his crew seized control of the _Argo II_ and demanded we give them our valuables.

"Do we have a choice?" Leo grumbled. "Just stay out of the engine room."

"I am Chrysaor, and you are my prisoner. You are in no position to give me orders," the masked leader told him. _Annabeth would know how to beat this_ _guy,_ I thought, before having an idea. As I went over the intricacies of my plan in my mind, Chrysaor's crew made their way through our ship and tied up all the passengers. When that was done, Jason attempted to barter for our lives and freedom and the like, but Chrysaor was having none of it.

"Chrysaor! I challenge you, one-to-one, in open combat. I win, you leave us alone. You win, you do whatever you want with us," I declared. The demigods looked slightly worried about that plan, because their lives depended on my skills alone, but no one said anything.

"You think you can beat _me_ ¸ the greatest swordsman in history?" Chrysaor laughed. "Very well. Untie her and give her her weapon," he ordered one of his crew members. The comforting weight of Gambol Shroud in my hand relieved me from the pressure ever so slightly, but I took a deep breath regardless. I opted to use the default form to begin with, and let Chrysaor take the first swing. If he was as good as he claimed, I wanted to be on the defensive. His attack was almost too fast for me to see, and I just barely managed to dodge. _Is this how Percy felt that day at camp?_ I wondered. I still had a few tricks up my sleeve, but I didn't want to reveal my secrets too early, so I took a low swing at my opponent's legs. He jumped over my blade and brought his own down towards my head, intending to split it in half. I rolled to the side, avoiding Chrysaor's sword so narrowly that I felt the wind as he cut through the air. I got to my feet and faced him warily. We circled for a few seconds, neither of us making a move. Eventually, I swung again, an intentionally easy attack to block. Then, without warning, I unsheathed the katana so that I was duel-wielding. Chrysaor's mask hid any surprise he may have had as he tried to kick me. I deflected the kick with my katana as the cleaver still pressed against Chrysaor's gold sword, knocking him off-balance. As he staggered, I activated the pistol and took aim at his head.

"I win," I told him when he had regained his equilibrium. Instead of complying, he attempted to cut off the hand holding my pistol, so I jumped up and backwards off a shadow clone, firing my pistol while I was in the air. His mask shattered, and he immediately brought his hands up to cover his face. "Leave!" I ordered him. He stormed off the _Argo II_ , returning to his own ship. His crew followed while I untied my friends.

"Holy shit, Blake, that was incredible," Jaune complimented me.

"Well, what do you expect? She's a _ninja_ , of course it was," Yang told him, smiling. I rolled my eyes as she continued, "besides, Blake's incredible at _everything_." Under her breath, she then added "as far as I know" and winked at me. How she always managed to come up with dirty jokes, regardless of the situation, was beyond me.

"If anyone's wondering, we'll reach Split in a couple of hours," Leo called. We all nodded, then Jason decided we needed a plan on how we would actually acquire the scepter once we arrived at Diocletian's Palace.

On arrival, it was decided that Nico and Jason would go alone to the palace for reasons I wasn't really listening to. Meanwhile, the rest of us stayed behind to guard the ship against more boarding parties or sea monsters. While Nico and Jason were gone, an unfortunate truth dawned on Teams RWBY and JNPR.

"We lost our weapons when we were kidnapped," Jaune said fearfully. "They're probably still on Remnant." This was really bad news, because we'd all figured having an extra team of Huntsmen and Huntresses would be extremely useful against the giants, but without their weapons there wasn't much they could do. No one had a solution to this dilemma, but we didn't have long to think about it. We saw a pegasus flying towards the ship, carrying a girl dressed in armour. Naturally, we drew our weapons as the two came in to land.

"Please! I am not an enemy!" the girl told us, raising her hands as if surrendering.

"Reyna?!" Frank gasped. I figured "Reyna" was someone from Camp Jupiter.

"Yes, Frank, it's me. Where's Jason?" Reyna answered.

"Not here," I told her warily. She narrowed her eyes at me in distrust.

"Where is he, then?"

"He went with Nico to get Diocletian's scepter," Frank replied. "If I may, why are you here?"

"It's Octavian. When you guys didn't return from your quest, he started spreading stories that the Greeks had killed or captured you. Now the legion is preparing to attack the Greek camp," she explained. "I came to warn you guys."

"But you're the praetor. Can't you get everyone back under control?" Hazel asked.

"Octavian's lies have taken hold. Without solid proof that you're okay, there's nothing I can do," Reyna told us.

"Wait, didn't Athena say something about returning the big statue to the States before the Romans attack?" Ruby asked.

"Shit, you're right," Yang replied. "But we don't have time to go back, and there's no way one pegasus can carry something that big."

"What big statue? You mean the Athena Parthenos? Did you find it?" Reyna asked incredulously.

"Yes," I answered. "It was in Rome, under the Coliseum. It's now in the stables."

"Show me."

We brought Reyna to the stables to show her the Athena Parthenos. She gasped when she saw it, and explained that it had been lost for centuries, ever since the Romans invaded Greece and removed it from the Parthenon in Athens. Apparently, there had been much debate about whether or not it still existed.

"Well, Athena, or Minerva, whatever you want to call her, was right," Reyna said. "Showing this to Octavian and the rest of the Legion would heal the rift between Greeks and Romans. But we have no way to get it there." This dilemma stumped us. I knew it was imperative that we prevent the Romans from invading, but there was nothing we could do about it. Yet again, I found myself wishing Annabeth were still here, because she'd have a solution in no time. We decided to wait until Nico and Jason returned, and sat down for food. Reyna ate ravenously, which didn't surprise me considering she'd flown across a three-thousand-mile wide ocean and then half a sea on what was essentially a horse with wings, so she couldn't have been able to eat very much on her journey. When she had finished, she asked Hazel and Frank for a report on what had happened since they had departed. The Greek demigods, as well as Teams RWBY and JNPR, kept quiet as the Romans recounted the events of the past few weeks to their praetor. Reyna was a good listener, not once interjecting with a question or comment, merely nodding at appropriate points in the story. She went wide-eyed upon hearing about Percy and Annabeth's fate, but still kept silent.

"So. Terra is rising again, to take revenge for the defeat of the Titans last summer," Reyna stated when Hazel and Frank had finished. "And Juno has brought heroes from another world here to save both worlds."

"That's pretty much it, yeah," Yang answered. "And even if beating her is impossible and we all die, I'm going out with a Yang." I rolled my eyes while Ruby snickered and Weiss sighed in exasperation. Reyna looked at my girlfriend blankly. "It's a pun. My name's Yang and…I'll go out with a bang and…No?" she explained, tapering off at the end.

"Yang? Roman commanders don't appreciate humour in serious situations," Frank whispered loudly. Before anyone said anything else, Jason returned with Nico. The latter was red-eyed, as though he had been crying, but I decided not to question it. They had a three-foot-long ivory pole with them, capped with a dark marble globe. I deduced that it was Diocletian's scepter, but didn't get a chance to say anything as Jason noticed Reyna and gasped slightly in surprise.

"Reyna? What are you doing here?" he asked. She explained to him what was happening with the Roman Legion. After she was done, Jason looked as stumped as we were about how to get the Parthenos back to the States. Things looked bleak, until Nico spoke up.

"I can shadow travel it there," he whispered. "But I'd need protection, because transporting something that big halfway around the world in one jump is impossible. I'll do it in increments, with bodyguards so I can rest."

"I'll take you," Reyna told him. "I need to get back to the legion anyway."

"And take Hedge. He's really annoying," Leo said. Nico looked as though he was about to protest when the satyr burst into the mess hall.

"Who needs killing?" he yelled.

"No one yet. But you get to kill anything that comes close to Nico on his trip back to the U.S.," Leo answered. Hedge looked excited to be off the ship and away from us, and he wholeheartedly agreed to accompany Nico and Reyna. Those two didn't look impressed, but they didn't say anything.

"We should leave ASAP," Reyna decided. Nico nodded and the group headed to the stables to get the statue. A few minutes later, they were ready to go.

"Good luck," Ruby told them, before they literally vanished into shadows. When they were gone, Jason turned to Leo.

"Take us to Epirus," he commanded. Turning to Hazel, he added, "You'll need to wield the scepter. Only a child of the Underworld can use it to raise an army of dead legionnaires." She nodded. With that, the ship ascended and headed even further east.


	10. Chapter 10

**Blake**

Now that Reyna was on her way back to Camp Half-Blood with the Athena Parthenos, all we could do was continue our journey and hope she made it in time to stop a war. The last thing anyone needed right now was two opposing factions of demigods killing each other over lies. Instead of thinking about that right now, however, I turned my thoughts to our mission. So much was riding on our success that I was surprised no one had broken down under the pressure. Or, if they had, they were doing a damn good job of hiding it.

Somewhere along the way to Epirus, while we were all hanging out outside and enjoying the Mediterranean sun, an unnatural cold settled over the area. Our breath turned to mist, quite similar to what happens when Weiss gets pushed over the edge emotionally.

"Uh, guys?" Leo said, sounding worried. "I don't think this can be anything good."

As frost started forming on the deck on the _Argo II,_ I became glad I was always so close to Yang. The girl radiated heat, so I was protected from the cold, much like that time in Alaska. The only difference was that this time, I didn't have to be subtle about getting close to her. A blast of freezing wind came from the centre of the deck, so I shielded my face. When I turned back, a woman was standing there. She wasn't someone I'd ever seen before, but she was beautiful. She looked quite proud, and had lush black hair and eyes the colour of coffee. Her skin was unnaturally pale and she wore a white silk dress.

"Lady? Who in Hades are you?" Leo asked.

"I am Khione, goddess of snow," the woman replied. "I am here to kill you."

"Bitch, we already have an ice princess. Go find another boat," Yang taunted. "Get her, Weiss."

At first, I was slightly shocked, because Yang appeared to be avoiding a fight. Then I realized it was probably so that she could make that comment about ice princesses. So typical of her.

"Stop calling me that, Yang!" the heiress complained, but nonetheless she drew her rapier and prepared to fight.

"You think a child can stop me? I am a _goddess_ ," Khione told us. For emphasis, she waved her hand and Hazel turned into an ice statue. From what I could see, she was still alive, just in a state of suspended animation. Leo or Yang could probably thaw her out when Khione was dealt with. For her part, the goddess was curling her lip at Weiss, and I thought the two of them were similar in several ways. They both had regal attitudes, both had control over the cold and neither appreciated Yang's sense of humour.

"I'm going to give you one chance to _leave_ ," Weiss told her in a threatening tone. "Otherwise I'll just bring you as close to death as immortals can get."

"Dang, was that cockiness? You've really changed, Weiss!" Yang called. I elbowed her gently in the ribs to make her shut up.

"Mortals. So amusing," Khione said, smiling mirthlessly. She then narrowed her eyes at Weiss and sent another blast of freezing wind at the heiress. Weiss merely raised a glyph which absorbed the blast without even faltering. If that was the best Khione could do, then she really must have been one of those minor gods Percy had mentioned, so long ago.

Weiss cycled her Myrtenaster's Dust chamber to flame Dust and stabbed the sword into the deck, sending a line of fire towards the goddess. A promptly summoned blast of air dispelled the flames. Khione raised her hand, and some of the frost lifted from the deck. It started forming into several large ice crystals, which I figured were about to get launched at Weiss. This thought turned out to be correct, so the heiress raised another shield glyph then immediately shot more fire at the goddess. The combatants launched a few more ineffective attacks at one another before Weiss turned to the other members of Team RWBY and demanded that we help.

"Ruby? What's your call?" Yang asked, clearly hoping she wouldn't have to do anything Weiss told her to do.

"What do you think? We have to help her!" the young leader replied. Yang groaned a little, but perked up when she remembered it meant she would have a bad guy to punch. I unsheathed Gambol Shroud and prepared to fight.

We'd been together as a team long enough that we could read each other's thoughts in battle without anyone needing to say anything. Thus, I knew Ruby wanted me to distract Khione with rapid sword slashes and shadow clones while Weiss mustered the energy to form a glyph that would hold the goddess in place, preventing her from using any of her wind or ice based attacks. I also knew that Yang's role would be to help warm the area up, reducing the goddess' power. We didn't know if that last part would work, but we figured that as the goddess of snow, Khione would thrive in the cold. Failing that, Yang would go back to being a heavy hitter, dazing Khione with every landed punch.

This unspoken plan in mind, I charged the goddess and feigned an attack at her front, before jumping off a shadow clone to cut her from behind. This took her by surprise, so I was able to cut her dress open and leave a shallow slash in her back. Golden blood dripped from the wound as Khione screamed in rage, pain or both. She turned extremely quickly and slapped me before I could dodge, leaving a steaming handprint on my face. The sting wasn't helped by the fact that the place she'd hit me was so cold it felt like it was burning. Still, it wasn't a major injury. Yang must have seen it happen, because she yelled incoherently in anger and ran at Khione, punching the goddess in the face as hard as she could. When Khione stood up, I saw more golden blood pouring from her clearly broken nose.

"NOW!" Weiss yelled from behind me. Yang and I rolled to the side while the heiress launched her glyph at the very confused and very angry goddess. Said glyph hit its mark, freezing Khione in place. She could only struggle as she looked at us, venom in her eyes. I figured holding a goddess in place had to be draining Weiss' energy pretty quickly, so I prepared to finish the job. Before I could, though, a strong arm pushed me aside.

"No," Frank declared. " _No one_ messes with Hazel." As he spoke, he unsheathed his dagger and plunged it into Khione's chest, where her heart would be, assuming immortals had hearts. She howled in pain, before starting to glow gold. Remembering what Jason had said in the Coliseum when Athena had done the same thing, I averted my eyes, hoping Yang had the sense to do so as well. After a bright flash, I turned to see that Khione was gone. The remaining frost melted rapidly, and the temperature returned to normal. Meanwhile, Leo walked over to where Hazel was still frozen and summoned a small flame to thaw her out. Satisfied that everything had turned out all right, I was about to head inside for a snack when I heard a thud. Turning, I saw that Weiss had collapsed. Jason ran to her side to take a look at her.

"She's just exhausted," he told us. "She'll be fine when she wakes up." Having heard that, I resumed my plan to get some food. As I was perusing the galley shelves for something I could eat without preparing, I heard the door open behind me. I deduced from the sound of the footsteps of whoever it was who opened it that it was Yang, but I didn't turn around. I figured she had been trying to sneak up on me, so I played along and pretended I didn't know she was there.

"Hey, Blake," she whispered in my ear, wrapping her arms around my waist. "Wanna make out?"

I decided I wasn't all that hungry, so I shrugged and put my hand on the back of Yang's head, pulling her face towards mine. As our lips met, I realized that we hadn't done this enough lately. I let myself get lost in the moment, as I always do when kissing Yang, and once more wished we didn't have to separate. When she pulled back to breathe, she smiled at me somewhat seductively.

"Let's go somewhere more private," she suggested, taking me by the hand. Yang pulled me towards our shared cabin, kicking the door closed when we were both inside. A split second later, her lips were back on mine with even more passion. Before long, I felt her tongue slide gently over my lips, so I parted them to allow access. As I did, Yang pulled back again, then dragged me over to our bed. She then pushed me down onto it and climbed on top of me, leaning down to kiss me again. This time, she didn't wait for my lips to part before sliding her tongue into my mouth. _Someone's getting rough_ ¸ I thought, loving every second of it. As she probed around my mouth with her tongue, I brought my own up and entwined it with hers. The muscles danced around each other for a while before Yang pulled back, breathing heavily.

"We have _got_ to do this more often," she told me, lust in her eyes.

"Agreed." With that, she rolled off me and wrapped me in a hug. We cuddled for a few minutes before we both nodded off.

I woke some time later to the sound of pounding on the door. I extracted myself from Yang's embrace and walked over to open it. Standing in the hallway was everyone else on the ship, all looking slightly perturbed.

"We've arrived," Weiss told me.

"Right. Sorry. Let me wake up Yang," I replied, blushing slightly. I headed back over to the sleeping blonde and shook her shoulder. When she didn't stir, I shook her harder and punched her arm.

"Ow!" she exclaimed. "What was that for?"

"You wouldn't wake up, babe," I told her. "Apparently, we've arrived at Epirus."

"So I can punch some assholes soon?"

"Yes, Yang," I replied, rolling my eyes. We all left the ship and headed for what was clearly an old building.

"The House of Hades," Jason breathed. When we entered, we saw a room in disrepair. There were no doors, monsters or giants, but there was a shimmer like the one that had brought my teammates and I to this world in the first place. A note had been left on the ground by the shimmer, which I picked up to read.

"Team JNPR. You were not part of the plan, and you are under no obligation to fight the giants. This is your one chance to return to Remnant and avoid the war. Alternatively, on the other side of the portal you will find your weapons. If you wish, you may retrieve them and return here. Hera," I recited. The four members of Team JNPR looked at each other, shrugged, and Jaune announced they'd be back soon. They headed through the portal and returned a couple of minutes later with their weapons. I noticed that they immediately looked more confident now that they had their instruments of death. The shimmer faded.

"The Doors will be further in," Jason said. "Who has the scepter?"

"I got it," Hazel replied, holding it up for good measure. The thirteen of us forayed deeper into the temple until my enhanced hearing picked up the sound of activity at the end of the tunnel we were in.

"There's an army down there," I whispered. "Let me go check it out."

"Go ahead," Jason answered, just as quietly. I silently headed down the tunnel, hoping the monsters wouldn't immediately spot me. Thankfully, they didn't. Unfortunately, there were about three hundred of them, and it was a mix of Grimm and Greek monsters. I was immensely grateful for the detour to get Diocletian's scepter. I ran back to the others to report what I had seen.

"I have a plan," Ruby announced when I had finished. "We run down there, and Teams RWBY and JNPR attack, giving you guys time to raise and command your spirit legion." No one had any better ideas, so we all agreed and executed Ruby's plan.

We had the element of surprise, so two dozen monsters were defeated before any of them could react. I then realized that the Doors of Death were in the room with us, so reinforcements were likely to arrive quite often. As the Hunters-in-training continued tearing through the enemy legion, we heard Jason yell.

"Romans! Recognise your praetor!" I didn't turn to see what was happening, because I was focusing on keeping myself alive. After shooting an Ursa who was about to maul Yang from behind, I heard Jason yell again.

"Attack Terra's monsters! Leave mortals unharmed!" I then heard the thunderous sound of many people running at once, so I figured the spirit army was now moving to assist us. The battle was long and tiresome, with more monsters arriving what I soon found to be every nine minutes, always accompanied by a _ding_ sound, but we couldn't close the Doors until Percy and Annabeth were out. At one point, I saw Hazel unconscious with the scepter, so I figured raising the army had drained her and she wasn't getting reinforcements for us any time soon.

Another _ding_ sounded and I heard a familiar voice curse in Greek. I turned to see the final members of the quest party, reunited with us at last. Annabeth hit the button to close the Doors before her and Percy collapsed. Seeing them made the demigods and both teams of Hunters fight with renewed vigour, so the remaining enemies were dispatched quickly. When we were done, everyone was breathing heavily and bleeding from several small cuts. In Jaune's case, they healed almost instantly.

"Are you guys all right?" Piper asked Percy and Annabeth. Looking at them, I could tell that they weren't. They were both frail, though not as bad as JNPR had been when we rescued them from the urn, and their eyes had a hallowed look to them, as though they had witnessed great horrors.

"Aside from the fact that I feel like death? Yeah, I'm great," Percy answered, cracking a smile. "But if anyone ever offers you an all-expenses-paid trip through Tartarus, don't take them up on it."

"The other side is closed, too," Annabeth told us, but she sounded somewhat upset, like some great sacrifice had been made. "But Bob…And Damasen…They're…" She broke down before she finished her sentence.

"Shhh," Piper cooed. "It's okay. You're safe now."

Gradually, Annabeth stopped crying, and continued what she had been trying to say. "Bob – long story – and Damasen, they fought Tartarus together and closed the Doors behind us. They've probably faded by now."

"What do you mean, 'faded'?" I asked.

"They fought a primordial deity. Those guys spend most of eternity asleep, because they're too powerful to always be fully awake. Tartarus most likely absorbed their essences."

"I thought Tartarus was a place?" Yang said.

"Yeah, but the _spirit_ of the abyss, the father of the Gigantes, is also called Tartarus," Annabeth explained. "Him, along with some others, Gaea included, are the primordial deities, the first gods to be born from Chaos."

"How many of them do we need to smash?" Nora asked gleefully.

"Hopefully, none of them. If all goes well, Gaea isn't going to wake up fully, and the others will stay out of it." This answer didn't exactly inspire confidence in me, because up until this point, all had gone anything _but_ well. First Ruby had almost died, then the Romans decided to attack Camp Half-Blood. Furthermore, we'd temporarily lost two members of our group to the worst place in existence, not to mention the ship getting boarded and almost taken over by dolphin hybrids. Finally, a goddess had been sent to kill us. And all that's ignoring the regular attacks from sea monsters during the journey through the Mediterranean.

"So, we leaving?" Percy asked. Jason nodded, and extended a hand to help Percy up. The latter took the proffered hand and got to his feet, while Yang lifted Annabeth and half carried her back to the ship.

On arrival, Percy and Annabeth raided the galley. When they were done eating, we all met on the top level of the ship.

"Only one thing left to do," Percy declared. "Let's go stop Gaea once and for all."


	11. Chapter 11

**Blake**

The final leg of the journey had begun. The atmosphere onboard the _Argo II_ was tense as we prepared to go to Athens and face the giant army. Unfortunately, we'd learned from Percy and Annabeth that this Damasen person they had mentioned had told them that all the giants we'd already beaten had returned before the Doors of Death were closed. This lowered everyone's mood immediately, because we'd been counting on eight giants plus their army when the battle started. If Ephialtes, Otis and Alcyoneus were back, that meant we'd have eleven giants to kill, three of whom would probably be extremely pissed at having already been killed. Apparently, though, it could have been worse. According to Annabeth, Damasen was the twelfth child of Tartarus and Gaea, born to oppose Ares. Luckily for us, this meant Damasen was the war god's polar opposite. Thus, he was peaceful and wanted no part in a war against the Olympians. Fighting against Tartarus to allow Percy and Annabeth to escape had been a huge deal for him.

Even the sea monsters seemed to know what was happening. There wasn't even so much as an ominous shadow passing near the ship between Epirus and Athens. In fact, I thought the journey was too quiet. Much too quiet, considering everything we'd been through so far. Thankfully for my sanity, my girlfriend broke the silence.

"Blake, we'll be arriving at Athens soon and we won't have time to make out for a while," she told me. "We should get our fill now, before we get there." I honestly hadn't been thinking about that, but how could I refuse Yang? She was always adorable when she really wanted something. I knew she was manipulating me, but I didn't mind. She only did it for things I enjoyed anyway.

Instead of answering with words, I put my hand on the back of her head and pulled her face to mine so I could kiss her. She gladly reciprocated, wrapping her arms round my waist and pulling me in closer to her. I felt the curves of her body as our lips pressed together, relishing the taste of her cherry lip balm. I didn't even care about how illogical it was that she'd brought lip balm on a quest to save two worlds from destruction, or that she'd been taking the time to apply it. She probably just wanted to please me, quite literally bringing new flavours to our kissing.

Before things got too heated, I heard someone clearing their throat. I turned around to see Weiss glaring at Yang and I. We both blushed.

"If you two could go somewhere _else_ to do that, it would be great," the heiress told us. Yang, being the smartass that she is, took me by the hand and walked ten feet to her left before kissing me again. Needless to say, Weiss wasn't impressed. "Somewhere where you're _alone_!" she yelled.

"All right, Weiss, we know you're jealous because you've never been kissed, but that's no reason to bite our heads off," Yang taunted, before taking my hand again and pulling me to our cabin. On arrival, the blonde surprisingly didn't have anything to say about Weiss interrupting us. Or maybe she cared more about being attached to my lips for as long as possible than she did about complaining. Either way, it didn't bother me. Kissing Yang was just about my favourite thing in the world. I felt as though I would never get bored of the feeling of her lips on mine, even if we somehow became immortal. Hell, I would gladly spend eternity with her, constantly locked at the lips.

Like last time, Yang was a tad aggressive, pushing her tongue into my mouth and swirling it around my own. Then she retracted her tongue and started biting on my lower lip, sucking on it gently. We made out passionately for around half an hour.

Before long, I felt the ship stop. A quick look out the window told Yang and I that we had landed on solid ground. We made our way to the top level, where Jason and Percy were standing in front of everyone else, looking as though they were about to make a speech.

"All right, guys, this is it. Gaea's forces will undoubtedly know we've arrived and will be marching on Olympus soon enough. We _cannot_ let them win," Percy started.

"Unfortunately, the gods are still silent, excluding the small amount of contact we've had from Juno when she opened that portal back in Epirus and Minerva when she helped us kill Ephialtes and Otis. We need to prove to them that we are worthy of riding into battle with. If we don't, everything will be lost," Jason continued.

"I wish I could say we're all gonna make it out of this, but there is a very real possibility that that won't happen. Any one of us could die, but that loss wouldn't be in vain," Percy said. Great pep talk.

"Screw talking, when can I smash?" Nora asked impatiently.

"Soon, Nora," Ren told her. "But attacking the enemy with reckless abandon like you normally do probably isn't the best course of action." I thought that was the longest sentence I'd ever heard Ren utter.

"Back to the point, I wish you all luck, and it's been an honour fighting alongside you guys," Jason told us. "Now, gather your equipment and let's go save the world."

"I have a question," Jaune said timidly. "These giants…Are they, like, _actually_ unkillable, or just really tough?"

"Until the gods show up, yeah, they pretty much won't die," Frank replied. "Except for Alcyoneus, but he's not exactly a softie." Jaune gulped at this answer.

"Come on, Vomit Boy, you'll be fine," Yang told him, cracking her knuckles. "Just focus on the little bad guys and let us handle the big ones."

"Not your best choice of words, Yang," Leo said, barely suppressing a smile.

"Is everything a dirty joke to you?" Weiss snapped.

"A lot of things are," the mechanic answered, having long gotten used to the heiress' attitude. Said heiress rolled her eyes and stormed off the ship, heading in a random direction.

"Athens is the other way!" Leo called, after consulting a map. Weiss turned and made a rude gesture, before coming back to the ship and waiting for the rest of us. We all disembarked, and Leo pointed off into the distance. Following his finger, I saw a cloud of what I hoped was pollution, not smoke from a ruined city. "That way. I didn't wanna risk landing in the middle of a hostile army," Leo told us. "Maybe half an hour, forty-five minutes on foot?"

"That's what you think," Ruby said, dashing off in a blur of black and red.

"Ruby, wait up!" Yang yelled. Ruby dashed back and told us not to be slow. With that, the fifteen of us started walking towards Athens.

Around forty minutes later, we arrived, all of us sweating in the afternoon sun. We found the city mush as you'd expect, with mortals walking about, minding their own business, completely oblivious to what was soon going to happen. I saw a large hill, dominated by an ancient temple-looking building, at least as old as the one in Epirus.

"The Acropolis," Annabeth said in awe. "I've always wanted to see it in person."

"You can sightsee later," Weiss told her impatiently. "We have a job to do."

"Yeah, well that job is to make sure none of us die up there. So I can sightsee at the same time," Annabeth answered smugly.

"Why, what happens if one of us dies there specifically? How would it be different from dying anywhere else in the city?" Yang asked.

"The stones of the Acropolis are sacred. Tainting them with demigod blood would allow Gaea to rise," Annabeth explained.

"Then it's simple. We Hunters will defend up there, you demigods stay away and don't let anyone take you alive," Ruby said. "Or would blood from a corpse suffice?"

"No, a demigod would have to actually be killed there."

"So, are we gonna make a plan?" Jaune asked.

"Easy. When the bad guys show up, kill everything and don't die," Yang told him. "And make it look impressive so the gods get off their asses and help."

Luckily, the giants and their army hadn't arrived yet, so we had plenty of time to get in position. As Ruby had suggested, Teams RWBY and JNPR headed to the temple atop the Acropolis while the demigods went to another region of the city. After firing Gambol Shroud a few times to get the mortal tourists to clear out, we surveyed the area.

"So, strategy time? We need to do everything we can to make sure we survive. If any of the others _are_ taken alive, we can't let the enemy bring them here and kill them," Pyrrha said.

"Pyrrha, you and I find high ground and give sniper support, at least until the army gets in range of the others. Weiss, rig some Dust traps around the perimeter. We'll give them a nasty surprise. Jaune, stay back. You'll be more valuable as a healer than a fighter. No offence. The rest of you, sit tight and stay on the defensive. Charging them will only get you killed," Ruby told us. "Yang, if worst comes to worst, let a giant hit you and activate your Semblance, but only if you have to. That'll be our secret weapon, so don't use it too soon."

It always amazed me how Ruby could be so childish and carefree one moment, then deadly serious the next. The girl's ability as a leader was admirable. If I had seven other people looking at me for a plan of action, especially in such a serious situation, I'd probably crack under pressure. Killing things, I was fine with and always had been, but people? A whole other story.

Just then, the ground rumbled and I heard a voice in my head. Based on the looks on the other's faces, they heard it too. _Demigods and Hunters, your cause is a losing one. You cannot stop my rise. Even now, my son Porphyrion marches towards you with his brothers and a legion of minions you cannot possibly hope to defeat. However, stand down and I promise you all quick and painless deaths. Stand against me, and I will show no mercy._

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HEAD!" Yang yelled at who I assumed to be Gaea. "I DON'T TAKE ORDERS FROM ANYONE, ESPECIALLY NOT PSYCHOTIC EARTH GODDESSES FROM FIVE THOUSAND YEARS AGO!" I saw her eyes were crimson and her hair was glowing.

"Schnees don't back down," Weiss said defiantly, clearly much calmer than my girlfriend. "You want to kill me, come and get me."

 _As you wish,_ Gaea laughed in my head. With that, thunder rumbled and I heard screaming from below. Looking down at the city, I could see crowds of people running towards the beach. Figuring the giants had arrived, I wondered what the mortals were seeing, or if eleven Gigantes and an army of monsters was too much for the Mist to hide.

"This is it, they're coming," Yang said, much quieter than before. Weiss hurried to set up the traps Ruby had told her to rig as Yang continued, "Blake, in case one of us doesn't make it, I have to tell you something." She took a deep breath and looked me in the eyes, then said "I love you."

From the look in her eyes, I could tell she meant it. "I love you too, Yang," I answered, without hesitation. As cliché as it sounds, I felt as though I had always known it was true, I just hadn't known how to say it. As Yang moved in for what could be our last ever kiss, I decided there wasn't any other way I would have told her.

Pulling back, she whispered, "Don't die on me, Blake."

"I promise I won't, as long as you don't either," I whispered back.

"Bitch please, it takes more than an army to kill me," Yang said confidently, with a cocky smile on her face. As the earth began to shake with immense footsteps intermingled with many smaller ones, Yang's smile and confidence faltered. Turning around, I was met with a sight that could only be described as mildly terrifying.


	12. Chapter 12

**Blake**

"Oh, _fuck_ …" Yang said, cocking Ember Celica. Five Gigantes were marching on our position, accompanied by at least a thousand monsters and Grimm. One of the Gigantes, the one who appeared to be leading the assault, was fifty feet tall, clad in bronze armour. Like the other giants I'd seen, he had reptilian legs, this time green in colour. His hair was the colour of leaves in summer, braided and decorated with various bronze weapons. His eyes were pure white. I knew immediately that this guy would take no prisoners. He was joined by Alcyoneus, among other giants I didn't recognize.

"Brother, let me take the yellow one," Alcyoneus said to his taller leader.

"Is she the one that killed you? She doesn't look like much. Hardly worth my time," the big one replied.

"Thank you, Porphyrion," Alcyoneus said.

"What, you want a rematch? You do realize I'm just gonna kill you faster this time, right?" Yang taunted him. During this time, the army had continued to advance, with Pyrrha and Ruby firing perfect kill shots from their respective vantage points. Weiss had only just managed to rig the Dust traps before the enemy showed up, and the monsters triggered them. A colossal explosion ensued, large enough to stagger the Gigantes and instantly vaporize a few dozen monsters. When the smoke cleared, the monsters seemed reluctant to advance, at least until Porphyrion bellowed at them to attack. Unfortunately for them, they did, so I calmly unsheathed Gambol Shroud and prepared to kill them all.

I heard an extremely loud yell of pain, and looked up to see one of the smaller Gigantes with his hand over his eye. 'Smaller' in this case was relative; he was still twenty feet tall.

"Don't like that, do you?" Ruby yelled. I figured she had shot the giant in the eye. I couldn't dwell on it, however, because a Deathstalker appeared and decided I needed to become less alive. Hence, I considered my options. I could shoot out its eyes, blinding it. I could cut off its stinger and hope it landed on the Deathstalker's back. I didn't have time to make a decision because it attempted to impale me with the stinger I'd been considering removing. I rolled to the side and slashed at it with Gambol Shroud. The blade went straight through, causing the Deathstalker to howl in pain. It then tried to jab me with its pincer while I thought back to Grimm Studies class, trying to remember if Port had ever said anything useful about killing a Deathstalker single-handedly. Unfortunately for me, I wasn't one of the few people who could stay awake in that man's class, so I had no idea if he had. I decided to do what Yang always does and just wing it, so I dodged the pincer and stabbed the bottom of its arm, where there was no armour. It grunted in annoyance, so I could tell I hadn't hurt it much this time. Luckily, Nora came to my aid by firing a few grenades at the Deathstalker. While it was blinded and disoriented by the pink smoke, I jumped off a shadow clone and flipped over the beast, landing behind it. Presumably, it now had a new target in range, because it didn't turn to find me or head off somewhere else. I took advantage of this by slicing open the exposed flesh at the base of the tail then firing several shots at the beast's internal organs.

As it screeched in pain, I noticed a small red vial coming from the direction Weiss had been a moment before. I reached out my hand to catch it, and found that it was pure flame Dust. Something in my head clicked, and I knew exactly why Weiss had thrown it to me. For an heiress to one of the largest companies on Remnant, our Ice Queen was incredibly violent. I rammed the vial through the hole in the Deathstalker's body, forcing it deep into the abdomen. I then shot the vial, igniting an explosion contained within the Grimm. Needless to say, it didn't survive the blast.

With that threat dealt with, I focused on a legion of the snake women I'd first encountered in Rome. Since then, I'd learned that they were called _Scythian dracanae_ , and mainly served as foot soldiers in immortal armies commanded by enemies of the gods, like the Gigantes, or their older and supposedly weaker relatives, the Titans. 'Cannon fodder' would have been a more accurate term, because they fell even more rapidly than the androids I'd fought on my last mission with the White Fang. They also didn't have any long-range weapons, so three dozen of them were no match for me.

Looking around, I saw that most of my comrades were faring just as well as I was. Even Ren's pistols, which don't have much effect on Grimm, were obliterating the Greek monsters. As Ruby had ordered, Jaune was hanging back, only engaging targets that managed to get past the rest of us. Speaking of my red-clad leader, she and Pyrrha were now down on the ground, having abandoned their sniper posts. Ruby was a red blur, zipping around the battlefield disintegrating monsters and decapitating Grimm everywhere she went. For her part, Pyrrha was doing a fine job of demonstrating why she was known as the Invincible Girl. With seemingly no effort, she was countering and parrying every attack her enemies made, wisely avoiding the giants she knew she would have no hope of defeating alone.

Speaking of giants, Alcyoneus now seemed to be regretting his decision to battle Yang again, going entirely on the defensive. I knew he didn't have the advantage he'd had last time the brawler fought him, because we were now far from his homeland. It was only a matter of time before the giant slipped up and my girlfriend would land a killing blow. Meanwhile, Porphyrion had lost some of the arrogant demeanour he'd had when he'd arrived. I could think of two reasons for this. It was either because his army, which would have been more than adequate to kill a few demigods, was getting slaughtered by seven highly skilled warriors, while one of his brothers was having the living daylights beaten out of him by an eighth, or it was because he'd expected to find demigods to kill and wake his mother up fully. Instead, all he had found was devastating losses at the hands of a tiny force that showed no signs of tiring.

"ENOUGH!" he suddenly bellowed. His voice was so powerful I staggered slightly as all combat momentarily stopped. "I am Porphyrion, king of the Gigantes and Gaea's favourite son! I was born to kill Zeus himself! You are all of you beneath me!" To demonstrate his point, he thrust out his hand and a forty-foot earthen spear shot out of the ground. He was probably about to attack, but a certain hyperactive redhead with a hammer had other ideas.

"BOOP, MOTHERFUCKER!" Nora yelled, almost as loud as Porphyrion himself, as she flew through the air and smashed the giant's face with Magnhild, discharging a blast as the hammer made contact. Porphyrion staggered, before yelling in rage. He thrust his spear at Nora, who merely giggled gleefully and rolled to the side, before launching a few grenades at the giant.

Yang was the first to resume fighting, firing a couple of long-range blasts from Ember Celica at Alcyoneus. The explosions did little more than annoy the giant, but I knew Yang was counting on that. Very few fighters could battle properly when angry. Those that could were like Yang; their enemies didn't stand a chance. Those that couldn't would become reckless, leaving openings that their level-headed opponents could exploit. Alcyoneus turned out to be of the latter type, which meant Yang finished him off in no time.

"Told ya I'd kill you faster," she taunted, before killing the giant.

"Alcyoneus, you useless IDIOT!" Porphyrion roared when he saw his brother disintegrate. Nora took advantage of his distractedness, swinging Magnhild at the giant's reptilian leg. She must have done a lot of damage, because Porphyrion suddenly seemed reluctant to put weight on that leg. Unfortunately, the Gigantes had accelerated healing abilities, so I knew his leg would be fine soon enough. Nora seemed to know this too, because she kept smashing the same spot repeatedly until the giant collapsed. "Impossible!" he yelled. Before Nora could do any more damage, an Ursa Major charged her from the side. While she was occupied, I ran towards the giant, who still hadn't gotten up, and gave him a few more battle scars with Gambol Shroud. Golden blood poured from several cuts on his face as I retreated, intending to occupy myself with groups of smaller, weaker enemies.

I saw another group of _Scythian dracanae_ and headed towards them. As my blades tore through their ranks, I almost pitied their helplessness. Almost. Deflecting their attacks wasn't in any way difficult, and I had no problem disintegrating the snake women.

After dispatching my last target, I was shoved to the side and I heard Ember Celica go off close to me. Turning, I saw Yang, fist extended, one of her gauntlets smoking. As shards of rock rained down around us, I realized what had happened. Someone or something had thrown a boulder at me, and Yang had saved my life. Looking around to find what could have thrown it, I saw several six-armed ogres, all horrendously ugly. They smelled awful too; I could pick up their putrid stink from across the battlefield.

"What is it with monsters and being ugly?" Yang asked, before running to fight the ogres. I followed, and we had to dodge several more boulders along the way. Up close, the ogres stank so much that it made my eyes water, and for the first time, I wished I didn't have enhanced Faunus senses. It made sense that they would smell so bad, though, because they had six armpits each, and they only wore filthy loincloths. They were roughly ten feet tall, tiny compared to the Gigantes, but they still dwarfed Yang and I.

We wasted no time in engaging them in combat, because it was only a matter of time before they managed to crush someone with a boulder, and it definitely wouldn't be an enemy dying like that.

"Kill Huntress!" one of them cried, right before Yang punched him in the gut. He roared in pain, then tried to punch Yang in the mouth. She easily blocked the punch, but one of the ogre's other arms swung around to her other side. Again, Yang was able to block, but she couldn't block strikes from six arms. The ogre's upper pair of arms swung at my girlfriend's head, while the lower pair aimed for her stomach. I didn't know which attacks actually made contact, but Yang went flying. Instantly, my vision went red. _No one_ gets to hurt Yang. With a rapid flurry of sword strikes, the ogre who had hit her was sent back to Tartarus the hard way. I turned and faced the others, glaring at them. They didn't seem very intelligent, but I hoped they got the message I was trying to convey with my eyes: _you face me, you die_. Very slowly, the ogres backed away. Apparently, they'd never had a staredown with a seventeen-year-old girl carrying two swords before. As they retreated, I activated my pistol and shot each one of them through the head.

"Come on, you didn't even save one for me?" Yang protested. She mustn't have been fazed by the blow she'd received, judging by the fact that she was complaining that her targets were dead.

"Yang, honey, you killed Alcyoneus. Again. Why exactly are you annoyed at not being able to kill smelly ogres?" I asked, smiling. She shrugged as if to say, _eh, fair point_ , then ran off to punch more enemies.

Surveying the battlefield once more, I saw Weiss locked in combat with the smaller giant Ruby had shot earlier. The heiress' attacks were proving to be ineffective, as her glyphs just fizzled out when her opponent got close to them and Dust attacks seemed to be absorbed by his cloak.

"Foolish child. I am Clytius, bane of Hecate. Your spells have no power over me!" he yelled.

Yang, hearing this name, burst into laughter. "Clytius? Your name is Clytius?" she called, tears of mirth running down her face. "Do your friends call you Clyt?" I sighed in exasperation. Even in a fight to the death, the blonde still couldn't get her mind out of the gutter.

"What is funny?" Clytius yelled at her.

"Oh, you know, just, your name and stuff," Yang answered, still laughing.

"Yang! Concentrate on the matter at hand!" Weiss hissed at her.

"My kill count is one giant, and I don't even know how many weak monsters. You can't even hurt the guy you're fighting," Yang told her, raising an eyebrow. "Try, like, using your rapier, or something."

Before Weiss could do anything, Ruby appeared in front of Clytius. "I got this, Weiss," she told her partner. She slashed Crescent Rose along the giant's chest almost too fast for me to see, and golden blood gushed out of what seemed to be a deep cut. Clytius' robe was torn, and the giant roared in rage and pain. He drew a massive black sword and swung it at Ruby, but the girl was far too fast. She made a vertical cut in the back of Clytius' ash-coloured dragon leg, causing the giant to drop to one knee. More gold blood soaked the ground as Ruby took a few shots at Clytius' head. The effect the high-calibre rounds had on their target was sickening. I turned away, not wanting to see what else Ruby was going to do to Clytius.

Meanwhile, Weiss was now fighting a group of tall, one-eyed monsters. I thought they were called Cyclopes, but I wasn't entirely sure. They were taller than the ogres I'd fought, but not as tall as Clytius, maybe fifteen or sixteen feet. They were using makeshift armour and shields, made from things like car doors. I decided to make my way over and help her, because the Cyclopes seemed pretty resilient. They were also immune to fire, as far as I could tell. Weiss' flame Dust wasn't doing anything. However, they weren't immune to bullets through the eye, a fact which only turned out to be useful for killing one of them, because my clip was empty and I didn't have time to stop and reload. I resorted to fast strikes and rapid movement, not staying in one place for more than a second. Combined with lightning Dust, courtesy of the Ice Princess, I quickly took down two more Cyclopes. Jumping off one of Weiss' glyph platforms, I placed an almost surgical cut in the neck of another Cyclops, killing him instantly.

Unfortunately, despite our success thus far, we still had four enemies we couldn't kill, and more monsters were now climbing the Acropolis. If the gods didn't show up soon, all this would be for nothing. I also had no idea how the demigods were faring. If they were facing a force similar to the one we were up against, they probably wouldn't last long. As it was, we Hunters were starting to get tired. We couldn't hold out much longer, and the enemy showed no signs of relenting. Porphyrion was back on his feet, the leg Nora had obliterated presumably fully healed.

Suddenly, there was a colossal _boom!_ and a new figure appeared. If the sight of the enemy army had been mildly terrifying, I didn't have the words for this guy.


	13. Chapter 13

**Blake**

"Whew…You're a _big_ fucker, aren't you?" Yang said, whistling. My only thought was that 'big' was a colossal understatement. The new arrival was easily two hundred feet tall, at least four times the size of Porphyrion. He carried no weapons I could see, but he radiated an aura of raw, barely constrained power. This aura also exerted an overwhelming feeling of despair over me, as though my subconscious mind was telling that the figure was unstoppable. His skin was a deep shade of purple, rippling with muscles, and his fingers were tipped with razor-sharp talons, like a Nevermore's, only much larger. His black boots were the size of coffins, while his breastplate had the faces of various creatures pressing against it from the inside, looking like they were trying to escape. I couldn't blame them, because this guy made me want to curl up like a kitten and die. Only my steely nerves, developed over years of combat and White Fang raids, kept my feet in place. The worst part of this figure was his face. He didn't have one; there was a black, spiralling whirlpool instead.

When he appeared, the monster army evaporated, while the remaining Gigantes bowed respectfully, except for Clytius, who was still incapacitated by Ruby's strikes. Jaune dropped his sword.

"Father. To what do we owe this honour?" Porphyrion asked. _He called him "Father"? Then, if I remember correctly, this guy is_ -

"Tartarus…" I breathed, suddenly more terrified than ever. The Gigantes glared at me, as if silently berating me for speaking without permission. Meanwhile, Tartarus laughed. It sounded like a mountain being split in half.

 _You recognize me? I am impressed, Huntress_ , he said. His voice sounded hollow, like it was coming from far away, yet it also seemed to come from inside my head. _But that will not save you._

"Save us from what?" Yang asked.

 _Your destruction, of course, mortals. I rarely intervene directly, but my sons have proven inadequate to kill you. Consider this your final honour._ I racked my brains, trying to come up with a plan, but I got nothing. It seemed all I could do against this immensely powerful being was wait until he killed me. I couldn't outrun him; he'd cover the same distance in one step as I would in fifty. Fighting him would be suicide. Meanwhile, Yang snorted.

"You think _dying_ is an honour? You're an idiot," she told Tartarus.

_Insults mean nothing. You are powerless to stop me._

"Oh yeah? You know what happens when you threaten the lives of the people I love?" Yang asked defiantly, hair starting to smoke.

"Yang, don't," I warned. Tartarus laughed again, obviously unimpressed by Yang's half-formed threat.

"We fought well, guys. I'm proud to die alongside you," Ruby announced, her voice cracking on the last word. I turned to see the girl crying. I felt tears welling in my own eyes as I looked at Yang, who was determined not to let anything happen to Ruby or me.

 _Death comes for you now, child. Embrace it_ , Tartarus said. I suspected it was aimed at Yang.

"Death is scared of me, bitch. All you're doing now is making me angry. Ask your son Alcyoneus, it never ends well for the bad guys when I'm mad," the blonde answered.

_Foolish girl. You think I meant Thanatos? He's weak. Gods, Titans, all of them are weak. My children shall destroy the Olympians, my wife shall wake, and everything you know shall be crushed._

"I've travelled between worlds. I've killed your son twice. I've watched my sister almost die and two of my friends fall into your stupid pit. I've journeyed halfway across the planet to save it. I will _not_ die now," Yang growled. By this point her eyes were crimson and her hair was on fire. Tartarus laughed again.

_Perhaps I'll allow you to live, Yellow. You have been most entertaining. But alas, I have delayed long enough. Time to end this._

Before anyone did anything else, a new voice spoke in my head that reminded me of Clarisse and her cabinmates from Camp Half-Blood. _Huntsmen and Huntresses, kill these punks_. The voice was practically dripping with attitude, and I figured it must have belonged to Ares, or Mars, whichever. This theory was backed up when my fear suddenly vanished and I felt invigorated. I stared at the Gigantes, and they all backed up slightly. Looking around, I saw that everyone was now glowing with an aura of their respective colours. Yang had gotten special treatment. She was now encased in a glowing avatar roughly twenty five feet tall. It took on her exact appearance, except the avatar had Greek combat armour instead of Yang's regular clothes. She was still tiny compared to Tartarus, but the deity didn't seem amused by Ares' disembodied show of power.

 _Stupid Olympians. You only delay your destruction_ , he hissed in my head. Meanwhile, the Gigantes now looked terrified, as if a god augmenting the abilities of a demigod or Hunter was enough to kill them. I had no idea if it was, but I intended on finding out. I ran towards the barely-conscious form of Clytius, who had golden blood torrenting from various massive gashes on his body. Half of his head was missing, so I knew Ruby had shown no mercy. The giant was in no condition to escape me as Gambol Shroud cleaved through what was left of his torso. He didn't die immediately though, so I guessed Ares' blessing or whatever it was wasn't enough.

 _Work together, dimwits_ ¸ the war god said in my mind, in a tone that said it should have been obvious. My comrades, excluding Yang, ran over to join me around Clytius, who was now beginning to heal. His eyes widened in fear as he looked at the seven of us.

"So, do we all attack together?" Jaune asked.

"Yeah, let's smash!" Nora answered, swinging her hammer so fast there was a small sonic boom. The rest of us followed suit, each hitting Clytius with our various weapons. Jaune finished with a stab straight through the giant's head. He finally disintegrated, which told me seven Hunters, each with the blessing of a war god, were equivalent to a hero and a god being there in person. The other three Gigantes, Porphyrion and two whose names I didn't know, sunk straight through the ground to avoid our wrath. Tartarus grunted in annoyance at seeing one of his sons killed by children, but I suspected he wasn't exactly a caring father. Meanwhile, Yang had decided her avatar would be adequate to protect her from the immense deity's power.

**Yang**

Even without the magic avatar, I would've charged Tartarus. The son of a bitch had threatened both Ruby and Blake, the two people I love most in the world, in the same sentence and assumed we would all stand by and let him kill us. I didn't actually know where the avatar had come from, but I wasn't about to ask questions about it. I had a stupidly huge god to beat.

While Tartarus was distracted by everyone suddenly glowing, I tackled his leg. He was still at least eight times my size, but the avatar seemed to move with greater force than I would on my own. I mean, it didn't feel like my limbs were carrying any extra weight, but the god's leg buckled when I hit it. There was no way that would've happened without my glowing shell. Even though the avatar wore Greek armour, there was still an oversized version of Ember Celica on its wrists, which I figured would fire when I fired the real gauntlets. I decided to test this by shooting the exposed bit of purple skin between the knee guard and the shin guard of the bastard's armour. Luckily for me, the avatar's gauntlets fired when mine did. Instead of blood, a cloud of darkness shot out of the wound, which just _had_ to close almost instantly. Just my luck. This guy's healing made the giants' look slow. Maybe he _would_ be a challenge.

Unlike Blake, I never stopped to consider what do to next. I like to hit bad guys until they die. Worked for the big gold guy with the massive pole. Following this school of thought, I just started pummelling Tartarus, firing Ember Celica. He didn't even try to fight back. He just stood there, laughing in that stupid hollow voice that came from inside my head. I swear, if he hit me and fully triggered my Semblance, I'd send him down to his fucking pit in no time. The gods know there's enough rage in me to do it, it just needs released.

Eventually, I realised Tartarus wasn't even bothered by my onslaught. I stopped punching to glare at him for a while.

 _Finished? Good_ , he said, before making the mistake of kicking me. The avatar flickered as I was sent across the Acro-something-or-other, but didn't fade. When I stood up, my vision was red. The glow of the avatar was even brighter as I felt anger coursing through me, making me feel stronger than a god. I smiled at Tartarus.

"Thanks, big guy," I told him, before taking a running jump, using Ember Celica to send me higher. As I reached his chest height, I punched him as hard as I could. His black breastplate shattered, and it turned out all those creatures that looked to be pressing outwards were real. Unfortunately, they attacked the others instead of Tartarus. My friends seemed to be fine, though, so I focused on the god. However, as I started falling back to the ground, he reached out and grabbed me. He didn't manage to crush my avatar in his hand, but I could feel it getting weaker. He threw me to the ground, which hurt a lot. I looked around and saw the others holding up various vials that looked like Dust. They seemed to be shouting at me, but there were waves of anger roaring in my ears so I couldn't hear what they were saying. I decided to use Blake as a calming influence so I could hear my companions. I focused on her face, and gradually her voice started to get through.

"Dust! In his- Look out!" she called. At the last word, I turned to see Tartarus' huge foot coming down towards me. I managed to roll out of the way as he made another crater. The mortals would probably be pissed if we won this. I launched a volley of long-range blasts at Tartarus' chest before turning back to listen to Blake.

"We can throw Dust into the whirlpool thing on his head. That can't be good for him," she told me.

"What kind?" I asked, dodging the big fucker's foot again.

"All of them. Every vial we have left," Weiss answered. "You have the best throwing arm. Do it!" I ran over and grabbed the Dust the heiress gave me. Luckily, my avatar's hands were large enough to carry all of it.

 _Enough! You die now!_ Tartarus yelled in my head. He bent down, and the whirlpool started spinning faster. I could feel the power of my avatar being drained, as well as see some debris being sucked in. I figured it was some kind of gravity field, so I threw the Dust just before the avatar faded. Just as planned, the vials headed towards his head. I fired another long-range shot, detonating all of them.

The explosion made the one earlier look like a firecracker. Time stood still as the world was torn apart. Fire, ice and lightning clashed above me, right where Tartarus had been. The heat seared my skin and I felt blisters forming on my face. It seemed to take ages for the smoke to clear. When it did, the entire top half of my enemy's body was gone. _Insolent mortals!_ he hissed in my mind. He sounded angry, but he also sounded weaker and sleepier, almost like a male version of Gaea. What was left of him dissolved into black mist and seeped through the ground, presumably back to the pit he came from. My ears were still ringing. By the time they stopped, another new guy appeared before us. He looked young and attractive, with a winning smile and sunglasses.

"Nice job, guys. I'll have to keep this brief; Zeus doesn't want me to be here. I'm Apollo. I'd give you a haiku but there isn't time. Maybe next time we meet," the guy told us. "You managed to force Tartarus back to sleep with that blast. Everyone on Olympus, Zeus included, is impressed. Ares says you're welcome for the blessing. He also says the yellow one should be especially grateful considering how she's treated his kids. Problem is, Gaea's still waking and the rest of the giants are still around. They're going to attack the original Mount Olympus now, so get over there fast."

"Lord Apollo, what about the others? Are they alive?" Blake asked him. Apollo stroked the beard he didn't have.

"Yeah, they are, but my gift of prophecy won't tell me how much longer for. Too many variables. Just do us all a favour and don't die," he answered. "Oh, and look away." He started to glow, so we all turned away. There was a flash, and he was gone.

**Blake**

Seeing Yang charge Tartarus made me immensely proud to be her girlfriend. Gods and Titans wouldn't have stood a chance against him, and Yang didn't even care. Even though her attacks had mostly been useless, the idea was what mattered. We'd still prevailed, for now.

After Apollo vanished, I ran to Yang, threw my arms round her neck and kissed her. She seemed taken aback, but gladly reciprocated. When we broke apart, I rested my head on her shoulder, glad we had all survived.

"Thanks for not dying," I whispered. "I couldn't live without you."

"I wouldn't do that to you or Ruby," she whispered back.

"Well guys, we should go find the others," Ruby suggested. We all agreed, so I used my enhanced senses to try to track their scents. I just barely caught them, so I led the Hunters to where the demigods were, taking Yang's hand in mine.

When we reached them, they were scattered around a small area, leaning against cars or buildings, surrounded by monster ash and looking exhausted. They were all covered in small cuts, but no one looked too badly hurt. When Percy saw us, his face lit up.

"You made it! We heard the explosions, so we weren't sure…" he said.

"Oh yeah, we're fine," Yang answered. "Have any good fights?"

"Poseidon showed up and helped me kill Polybotes, but not much other than that. How many giants attacked you guys?"

"Five. Porphyrion, Alcyoneus, Clytius and two others I didn't know," I replied. "You?"

"Just Polybotes," Jason told us. "How in Hades did you guys survive? Any gods show up?"

"Funny thing, that," Yang answered, laughing somewhat. "We did get one, but not a helpful one"

"Dionysus?" Percy asked, pretending to vomit at the thought of the god he'd named.

"No, way more terrifying," Jaune said.

"Wait. Zeus, or Jupiter, whatever you wanna call him?" Jason asked.

"No, way older," I told him. Annabeth's brow furrowed like she was in deep thought, then her eyes widened.

"No…Not one of the Primordials?"

"Bingo! I fought Tartarus and won!" Yang answered.

"Impossible. Percy and I saw him kill two Titans like it was nothing," Annabeth told us.

"Okay, I had help. I got a big glowing avatar thing from Ares and used that, then I got angry, then he activated my Semblance, then we blew up most of his body, but still."

" _You_ got a blessing from Ares? After what you've done to his kids?" Percy asked incredulously.

"Yeah, I'm awesome like that."

"Well, how many giants did you manage to kill?" Frank asked.

"Yang killed Alcyoneus again, then the rest of us worked together with Ares' blessing to kill Clytius. Apparently enough heroes with a blessing works just as well as a god actually being there," Pyrrha answered.

"That still leaves eight, and I have no idea what to do next," Annabeth said.

"Apollo appeared when Tartarus left. He said Tartarus has gone back to sleep and we need to go to the original Mount Olympus," Ren told her. Leo nodded, and said the _Argo II_ could get us there in no time.

When we got back to the ship, Chiron's face appeared on the top deck.

"Iris-message," Annabeth whispered to me, seeing my confused face. I still didn't know what that was, though.

"I have good news, heroes," the centaur told us. "Nico, Gleeson and Reyna arrived with the Parthenos just before the Romans invaded. Seeing it caused most of them to lay down their weapons, so there was no bloodshed. One of them refused to accept peace, but he was overpowered easily. I trust your quest has been successful so far?"

"Pretty much," Annabeth answered. "We've killed several giants and out Tartarus back to sleep-"

"I did that!" Yang called. I gently elbowed her in the ribs to make her be quiet.

"As I was saying, we put Tartarus to sleep, but there are still eight Gigantes marching on Mount Olympus. Luckily, the gods seem okay now. We might be able to win the war," Annabeth finished. "We also closed and unchained the Doors of Death, so Thanatos is back in control of them." The centaur looked impressed.

"Well, don't let me delay your quest further," he told us. "Go now, get to Olympus before the giants get there. Don't fail." Annabeth waved her hand through the image of Chiron, and it vanished.

"All right, Leo. Let's go, quickly," she called. The _Argo II_ ascended and headed towards our final confrontation with Gaea's forces.


	14. Chapter 14

**Blake**

Leo informed us that we would reach Mount Olympus in a couple of hours, so Yang and I crashed in our cabin, too tired to even make out. Instead, we lay on our bed, revelling in our victory. Annabeth had said defeating primordial deities like Tartarus would be impossible, but we had managed it. I had to admit, that was pretty awesome.

I thought about what Percy had said: Poseidon had shown up to help kill Polybotes. Did that mean the gods had realized the seriousness of the situation and would stand with us at Olympus, or was it fluke? And then there was Ares conferring his blessing. Would he have joined us in person had Tartarus not been there? Speaking of which, why _had_ Tartarus decided to kill us personally? Did he think his sons weren't powerful enough? If so, I hoped Yang never found out. Her ego's gotten big enough.

Oh, Yang. The way she'd attacked Tartarus single-handedly was incredible, even if it was an insanely dumb idea. Still, she'd got out of the encounter unscathed, apart from the blisters on her face caused by the heat of the Dust explosion. However, her Aura had mostly healed those, allowing me to get an untarnished image of her perfect visage. I did find it slightly hard to believe how angry she'd gotten when Tartarus had threatened to kill us, but it meant a lot that she was so defensive of me.

"Hey, Blake?" she suddenly asked.

"Yes, honey?"

"You know before the battle…when I said I loved you…I really meant it," she told me, looking me straight in the eyes.

"I know, Yang. I meant it too," I answered, leaning in for a soft kiss. When I pulled back, she was smiling.

"I love you, Blake. Completely and utterly," she whispered.

"Love you too, Yang."

A few minutes later, Annabeth announced over the ship's intercom that she wanted a meeting in the mess hall. Yang rolled her eyes, then we left our cabin, hand in hand. When we got to the mess hall, only Percy and Annabeth were there. From the misty-eyed expressions they both wore, it looked like they'd been having a moment just before Yang and I arrived. We waited a couple of minutes, until everyone else was present. Leo left the ship on autopilot so he could attend the meeting.

"Okay, well, we stopped the giants in Athens. But as we know from Apollo, they're marching on Mount Olympus," Annabeth started. "We can assume they're not gonna hold anything back this time. Expect the worst monsters to be let out of Tartarus, expect any and all of Gaea's children to oppose us. We _cannot_ lose this one. If we do, the gods will perish."

"Hey, we beat a Proto-whatever they're called, and like a thousand monsters," Yang said. "I'm pretty sure we can handle whatever they throw at us."

"To be fair, Yang, a lot of them vanished when Tartarus showed up. And the word you're looking for is 'Protogenos'," I told her, looking at Annabeth for confirmation of my second point. She nodded in agreement.

"Will the gods be helpful this time?" Jaune asked.

"Maybe. Poseidon showed up earlier, and Ares gave you guys his blessing," Percy answered. "What do you think, Annabeth?"

"They'll probably stand with us. They're too proud to trust heroes with protecting their very essence. That said, there's a lot of ancient magic in the Mediterranean. It might take them a while to get through," Athena's daughter answered.

"That's fine," Nora said. We looked at her in confusion. How could it possibly be fine that the gods most likely wouldn't be there for a while? Before anyone asked, Nora continued, "I don't want them having all the fun of smashing." Ren sighed upon hearing this.

"Getting back to the point, we need a strategy," Annabeth announced. "We all need to play to our strengths. Yang, Nora, you two are definitely front-line fighters." Both girls nodded excitedly. "Blake, unfortunately stealth won't be an option. Where do you excel in open combat?"

"Groups of relatively weak enemies don't stand a chance. I'm not so good with big guys," I answered. Annabeth nodded.

"Okay, so focus on the foot soldiers. Weiss, you're on support duty. Dust if you have any left, Greek fire, glyphs, whatever you got. Ruby, you're the sniper until the fighting really starts. Then you can use your speed and sow confusion and discord by killing rapidly and moving to another area. Everyone okay so far?"

"What does 'sow confusion and discord' mean?" Ruby asked.

"Get in the middle of their army. Kill some monsters. Move somewhere else before anyone registers what happened."

"Oh, okay. Yeah, I'm good," Ruby said.

"Ren, I'm not sure where you'd be best. What's your strong suit?" Annabeth asked.

"I'm good in a variety of situations. Put me where you want me," he answered.

"Okay, so focus on any ranged enemies you see. Pyrrha, you're the Invincible Girl, do what you do best. Jaune, Pyrrha tells me your copious amounts of Aura make you better at healing than fighting?"

"Uh, yeah," Jaune answered.

"So hang back and know your limits. In a way, you'll be the most important person on the battlefield," Annabeth told him. "Frank, you're the wild card. Keep changing form, don't let them adapt to anything you turn into. Piper, use charmspeak to confuse the enemy. Try to turn them against one another, or at least make them doubt themselves. Kill anything that comes close, but try to avoid open combat. Percy and Jason, you two are good with storms. Support each other; you should be able to cause havoc. Hazel, your _spatha_ is made for cavalry, right?"

"Yeah. I should be able to summon Arion. I'll move too fast for the bad guys to track," the younger girl replied.

"Who the hell is Arion?" Yang asked.

"He's the fastest horse in the world," Hazel answered. "I befriended him on a quest a few months ago."

"How fast?"

"He breaks the sound barrier," Frank said, looking as though he didn't want to think about it. Yang whistled appreciatively.

"I wanna race him when this is over!" Ruby exclaimed.

"I'm sure that can be arranged, Ruby," Annabeth told her. "Leo, after you drop us off, stay on the ship, fly out of range of the enemy's attacks and rain heavy fire with the ballistae. They won't like that. As for me, I'll just be awesome."

"You're always awesome," Percy told her.

"Can you _not_ be all lovey-dovey preparing for a battle?" Yang asked him.

"Look who's talking. You actually had a moment with your girlfriend before the giants showed up in Athens," Weiss scolded.

"Hate to cut in, but we're almost there. You should all get your stuff," Leo called from the helm. Looking towards the front of the ship, I saw a large mountain jutting into the clouds. While certainly impressive, from a distance it didn't look like the birthplace of gods. "Oh gods…we need to hurry up," I heard Leo mutter. I shot him a questioning look. "Army on the radar. Right below us," he announced. I walked over to the guardrail to take a look. Just as Leo had said, there was an army, which included all eight remaining Gigantes. Porphyrion looked up and saw us.

"You fly only to your deaths, mortals!" he bellowed.

"Can I shoot this prick?" Leo asked. Annabeth shrugged nonchalantly, causing Leo to smile wildly. He pressed some buttons, and the ballistae fired. Porphyrion bellowed again, in rage, pain, or both. Another look over the guardrail told me that the once orderly ranks of the giants' army were now scattered in confusion. Porphyrion looked… _displeased_ , to say the least. He cursed us as Leo punched a button to make the _Argo II_ go faster.

We reached the foot of Mount Olympus several minutes later. We all disembarked, excluding Leo, and fanned out to await the enemy. Weiss and Annabeth rigged some Greek fire traps, much like the Dust traps from our earlier battle, as Ruby scouted prime sniping positions. Yang and Nora smashed some boulders to warm up while Ren and Pyrrha meditated. I heard Piper muttering various commands under her breath, and I assumed she was practicing charmspeak. Hazel gave an extremely loud whistle, which hurt my cat ears.

"Sorry," she told me sheepishly. I told her not to worry. Frank was wandering around aimlessly, probably because he couldn't really prepare for being a wild card. Percy and Jason had a few practice swings at each other. Jaune took the healing supplies he had brought from the ship slightly further up the mountain, away from the area we would try to contain the battle to. During all this, Leo flew the ship away so that the enemy would think it wasn't here until it came back and attacked them again. Meanwhile, I ran through the basic checks for Gambol Shroud. I made sure the ribbon was securely attached to the weapon and tied round my arm, checked my ammo for the pistol, loaded the pistol, turned the safety off and made sure the gun wasn't jammed. With that done, I checked the sharpness of both blades. Gently pressing my finger on each blade in turn, I decided they were more than sharp enough. Not having anything better to do now that I knew my weapon was fit for battle, I did some warm up stretches to loosen my muscles. This occupied me until we heard the enemy army approach the mountain.

"Guys? I think they're coming now," Jaune told us, which seemed a bit obvious to me.

"No shit, Sherlock," Percy replied. Suddenly, a spectral image of Hera appeared.

"The Olympians are preparing, heroes. They will arrive, and together you will vanquish the giants. Do not despair," she told us. Annabeth shot daggers at her. As Hera vanished, the first few monsters came into view. I heard Porphyrion shouting orders from slightly further back.

"Divide them and kill them! And be careful; last time they had-" He got cut off by the Greek fire exploding. I assumed he'd been attempting to warn his forces that there may have been traps when they went off, and chuckled slightly at the thought. _Be serious, Blake. Fate of two worlds in the balance_ , I mentally scolded myself. When the smoke cleared, the enemy army charged, at least fifteen hundred enemies. This time, there were very few Grimm, but the ones they had were some of the most powerful. I counted three Deathstalkers and about a dozen King Taijitus. I waited for the enemy to come to me instead of attacking, while Yang decided to taunt Porphyrion.

"Didn't bring your brother for me to kill a third time?" she asked. "Or did you decide you wanted me to kill _you_ instead?"

"You wish to boast, girl?" the giant king yelled at her.

"Yeah, sure," she answered cockily. "I beat your dad in a fistfight earlier. Did he tell you, or was he too embarrassed?"

"If you had truly battled Tartarus alone, you would now be dead."

"Nah, he was easy. It was right after Clitoris or whatever his name is died and the rest of you pussied out. Go to his pit and ask him. Or ask the gods when they show up to help us kill you," Yang yelled. Despite being barely a tenth of Porphyrion's size, she radiated an aura of confidence. The Gigantes seemed reluctant to go near her.

"I'm going to kill you, girl. Slowly and painfully, and sacrifice you to Gaea. Your final words will come in a scream, begging me to have mercy and end the torture. And then, when the gods are dead and Alcyoneus rules the Underworld, I will have you condemned to the Fields of Punishment for eternity," Porphyrion growled.

"That's cute," the blonde answered. "But I'm not the one with a fifty cal aimed at my head." Too late, Porphyrion realised Ruby was taking aim at him. The red-clad girl fired from somewhere behind me, sending a high-velocity round straight into the delicate flesh of the giant's eyeball. He howled in pain as the enemy foot soldiers reached me.

Instantly, I blocked out all distractions and focused on the monsters in my immediate vicinity. Having fought the _Scythian dracanae_ on numerous occasions, I knew it was best to kill them before they could surround me. Thus, I slashed through the first line before they could react. The second line raised their weapons to defend themselves. _As if they could survive a fight with me_ , I thought. I stabbed one through the head, then spun and slashed the legs of another. A third took a swing at me, which I parried with my cleaver. A swift strike from my katana sent her down to Tartarus. The remaining snake women from the group I was fighting fanned out. I thought back to my training: _when surrounded, find a way out_. With that thought in mind, I jumped backwards, leaving a shadow clone in the middle of the _dracanae_. One of them slashed her sword through my clone, which merely dissipated. In response, I thrust my blades through the nearest snake women, who disintegrated on the spot. The one who had destroyed my clone saw this, and screeched in rage. I smiled and activated my pistol. After shooting the _dracanae_ directly in front of me, I parried a strike that came from my left. I then unfolded my katana and killed the perpetrator. I turned to my other side and watched my opponents back away. Instead of letting them escape, I mercilessly slaughtered them.

I surveyed the battlefield. As Annabeth had instructed, Percy and Jason had whipped up a storm, giving them a huge advantage over any monsters that got near them. Both boys were also skilled enough with their swords that enemies were dropping like flies. _If Yang heard that, she'd ask for clarification on_ which _swords_ , I thought. Speaking of Yang, she and Nora were tearing through the enemy forces with ease. Both of them were avoiding Gigantes, which seemed uncharacteristic of them. Nora looked to be having the time of her life. Hazel was riding around on her horse, Arion, disintegrating monsters as she passed. Piper was yelling various commands: "Kill the monsters! You don't want to hurt demigods, do you? Giants are bad!" The magic in her words was powerful enough that I had a reckless urge to kill all the monsters I could see, but I restrained myself. The monsters, meanwhile, seemed confused about what to do.

"Fools! She's using charmspeak!" Porphyrion bellowed, after being forced to kill a group of Cyclopes who had obeyed Piper. "Kill her!"

"Oh no, you don't," I heard Jason yell. A blast of lightning hit Porphyrion in the face.

"A child of Zeus, eh? I was born to kill your father! What can _you_ do against me?" the giant asked. In response, Jason summoned more lightning, disintegrating all the monsters within thirty feet of him and Percy.

"I scaled Mount Othrys and fought the Titan army! I slew Krios with my bare hands and toppled the black throne! The only thing you've ever done is get killed by the very god you were created to destroy!" Jason bellowed at Porphyrion. The giant began laughing.

"You forget, your father had the most powerful demigod of all time at his side last time I fought him. And slaying Titans means nothing. They are lesser beings. You are powerless to stop us."

"Nah, _you're_ powerless," Yang told him. "Standing near me is like standing too close to the sun in summer. You send out your army and you _still_ lose. You know why?"

"Silence! I will deal with you later!" he answered.

"It's because I _burn_ , bitch." With that, she yelled defiantly and punched the ground, creating a shockwave which killed a dozen monsters and staggered the giant. When Yang rose, she was wreathed in golden flames. The ground bubbled and cracked from the heat she was radiating. "Who wants to die?"

"Enceladus, deal with her," Porphyrion said. A bronze-skinned giant with green dragon legs stepped forward. He wielded a spear the size of a flagpole, which he jabbed at Yang. Yang sidestepped at punched the shaft, breaking the spear in half. Meanwhile, a large black dog attempted to pounce on me. I rolled to the side and stabbed it. The beast disintegrated into ash and fur. When I looked back at Yang, I saw that there wasn't a single monster within fifty feet of her. She was still wreathed in that gold fire. I was going to make her explain that trick after this battle. Her opponent, who I assumed was Enceladus, attempted to incinerate her with what appeared to be fire breath. When the giant's flames cleared, Yang was laughing.

"Don't try to fight fire with fire. You'll always lose," she told him, before taking a running jump. While she was in the air, she drew her fist back. Said fist soon made contact with the giant's face, sending him flying. He got up a few seconds later, looked at Yang angrily, then thought better of attacking her. Instead, he focused his attention on Annabeth. Throughout that fight, Jason had been taking on Porphyrion. The demigod appeared to be holding his own against the giant, always moving quickly, not letting Porphyrion hit him. Unfortunately, the damage Jason was inflicting healed quickly, and the giant seemed more annoyed than hurt.

Suddenly, a group of centaurs attacked me. I prepared to kill them, telling myself that they were bad centaurs, not Chiron's kin. With that in mind, I slashed the legs off the first centaur, then dodged an arrow shot by another. The archer looked at me in surprise and tried to shoot me again. This time, I sliced the arrow in half in mid-air, before shooting the centaur with my pistol. I then killed two more before any of them could react. At that point, a King Taijitu lunged at me. I rolled to the side and stabbed it in the eye. It howled in pain, then I realised I'd forgotten about its other head. I got hit in the back and sent flying. I raised my head and saw both heads of the snake moving in for the kill. As I braced myself for death, a sudden explosion rocked the ground underneath me, and the Taijitu was no more. Looking up, I saw the _Argo II_. Leo had finally brought it back round to provide air support.

"Took you long enough!" Ruby yelled at him. I turned and saw her fighting Ephialtes and Otis at the same time. The twins were getting angrier and angrier as the fifteen-year-old continuously moved too fast for them too hit. They both had golden blood dripping from various cuts, but Ruby wouldn't be able to kill them alone. Eventually, Otis managed to grab Ruby's cloak as she passed by him, and he threw her to the ground. She cried out, and the twins prepared to kill her. Before they could, however, a blur of white streaked across my vision and both giants were suddenly encased in ice. Weiss stood between them, looking furious, with Myrtenaster impaled in the ground. She turned to help Ruby get up, and asked if our leader was okay. Before Ruby could answer, the sky split open.


	15. Chapter 15

**Blake**

Dozens of war chariots charged forth, led by one made of solid gold. It was pulled by four somewhat smoky figures who were repeatedly switching between human and equestrian forms and occupied by a foreboding figure with electric blue eyes like Jason's and a grey-black neatly trimmed beard. He wore bronze combat armour and carried a lightning bolt, quite literally. It was a twenty-foot javelin made of pure electricity, arcing and hissing. The other occupant of his chariot was a winged woman who kept screaming, "Victory to the Olympians! Defeat to Gaea!"

Porphyrion looked up and growled. "Come to die, Zeus?" he bellowed.

"On the contrary, I have come to kill you," the Lord of the Sky responded, raising his bolt. He threw it at Porphyrion, who was blasted backwards by the impact. The giant stood up and threw his spear at Zeus' chariot. The wheel was knocked off, which for some reason I couldn't discern, caused the chariot to veer out of control. It crashed into the mountain, kicking up a cloud of dust. As Porphyrion attempted to make his way over to the crash site, Yang got in his way.

"Stand aside, girl. My intent does not concern you," the giant growled.

"Bitch please, I know you're gonna try and kill big lightning guy. So, how bout no?" Yang smirked. In response, Porphyrion summoned another spear from the ground and thrust it at Yang. The blonde just intercepted the strike with her fist. The heat from her flame barrier trick fused the dirt particles of the spear into solid rock, which she shattered with another punch. The giant roared and tried to step on his opponent, who rolled to the side and punched his leg. He bellowed in pain as Yang fired a long-range blast into his good eye, blinding him.

Meanwhile, Zeus had risen from the wreckage of his war chariot, looking furious. He stood up to his full height of about twenty-five feet and marched towards Porphyrion, who was still losing his battle with my girlfriend. As the giant flailed blindly, Zeus summoned another lightning bolt in one hand, and a large sword in the other. When I say large, I mean relative to me. Relative to Zeus, his sword was the perfect size. The god made a diagonal slash through the giant's leg, causing him to buckle. Yang jumped and uppercutted Porphyrion in the centre of the face, sending him flying. While he was in the air, Zeus threw his lightning bolt at the giant. Porphyrion disintegrated as one of the smoky figures that had been pulling Zeus' chariot flew through the ash cloud, spreading it in all directions.

"You fought well, Huntress," Zeus told Yang, whose flames had started to die down.

"Thanks, bro," she answered, breathing heavily. During this time, Ruby and Weiss were fighting Ephialtes and Otis, respectively, while a fat god in a striped shirt watched, looking bored with the proceedings in front of him.

"Are you going to help?" Weiss snapped at him.

"Give me a good show and I will," he replied, suppressing a yawn.

The heiress proceeded to stab Otis in the leg with her rapier, before swinging it around and shooting a column of flame at the giant. When the flames cleared, Otis' skin was covered in blisters. As he howled in pain, Weiss froze him again then shattered the ice surrounding the giant's arm.

"He's all yours, if that was _good enough_ for you," Weiss spat at the god watching her.

"Fine," he grumbled. A wooden staff covered in leaves appeared in his hand, topped by a pinecone. Ephialtes looked on in horror as his now one-armed brother was killed by the god hitting Otis over the head with his staff. The giant ice sculpture shattered. Ruby took advantage of the moment by cleaving through Ephialtes' leg with her scythe before shooting him in the head. As the giant roared in pain, Ruby dashed around to his back and impaled Crescent Rose in the base of his neck, which would sever his spinal column, assuming immortals had those.

"It's your turn," Ruby told the god who had killed Otis. He sighed, and hit Ephialtes in the remains of his head, disintegrating him.

After I observed all this, another group of _dracanae_ attacked me. I fought them with my brain on full autopilot, not even thinking about the placement of my strikes. Unlike Chrysaor, the snake women weren't even close to my level of swordplay.

"Mother! Stand with me!" I heard Annabeth yell as I finished off my last opponent. I turned to see her still locked in combat with Enceladus, as Athena joined her to defeat the giant. At the sight of both of them, the wisest of the Gigantes attempted to retreat, but was stopped by Jason Grace, hovering in front of his face.

"The only place you're going is Tartarus," he told the giant. He summoned some lightning and electrocuted Enceladus, who was blasted backwards towards Annabeth and Athena. Daughter slit the giant's leg open, causing golden blood to gush out, while mother thrust a javelin through the giant's abdomen. Enceladus coughed up blood, before disintegrating.

"You see, Enceladus? That's where a plan gets you!" a giant bellowed from a hundred feet to my right. I turned to see Pyrrha duelling with a relatively short giant whose dragon legs and regular skin were both jet-black. He wielded an enormous sledgehammer, with which he seemed unable to hit the Mistralian. From what I could tell, she wasn't even using her Semblance. Instead, she was ducking and rolling around her opponent's strikes, delivering quick counterattacks every now and then. Eventually, the giant managed to hit Pyrrha with his hammer, sending the girl flying. She stood up, slightly unstable on her feet, and attacked the giant again. As he swung his hammer, Pyrrha slid underneath it and thrust her hand upwards. Thanks to her control over polarity, the hammer changed direction and smacked its owner in the face. "What just happened?" the giant roared, spitting out a few teeth, each over an inch long. Instead of answering, Pyrrha switched Miló to its javelin form and threw it at the giant's neck. It pierced his jugular vein, causing a torrent of blood to pour from the wound.

"Thanks for the help with this one," said a god who had suddenly appeared beside Pyrrha. He had a wild black beard with small fires in it, which surrounded a face covered in welts and blisters. He bore a slight resemblance to Leo, so I assumed he was Hephaestus. In his hand was a hammer like the giant's, only smaller. "I'll take it from here," he added, swinging his hammer at the giant. "To Tartarus with you, Mimas," he told the giant as he disintegrated.

By this point, the last of the monsters and Grimm had been defeated, leaving only several Gigantes opposing us. They huddled together in a small circle as the gods, demigods and Hunters-in-training closed in, preparing to kill them. Unfortunately, I noticed a small cut on Frank's arm, with a drop of blood about to fall to the earth. Before I could say anything, gravity took over and the drop fell, causing the earth to shudder slightly.

 _Almost. One more mistake and I shall rise_ , Gaea's voice said in my head.

"You won't have time, Grandmother," Zeus answered out loud. Gaea laughed in my mind. Suddenly, there was a bright flash, and a twelve-foot-tall man in a suit stood in front of Zeus.

"I didn't get my revenge last summer, and I doubt that I truly will now. But I will help orchestrate your destruction," the newcomer said quietly. He waved his hand, and Piper was sent flying into a large boulder. The impact created a large gash in the back of her head, which, needless to say, dripped a fair amount of blood.

"Prometheus, you little rat," Zeus growled, stabbing the man in the chest. He then threw Prometheus to the ground and crushed his throat with his foot. Meanwhile, Piper's blood inevitably spilled into the earth. Jason flew over to her and carried her up to the _Argo II_ as the ground gave a massive tremble.

A woman burst forth from the earth, wearing a dress made of constantly shifting dirt. Her face looked old and tired, but her eyes glittered evilly. Despite being the size of a normal person, she radiated power. The Gigantes cheered.

"At last," Gaea said softly. "The Olympians will be destroyed."

"I don't think so," Yang called defiantly. She stepped forward, cracking her knuckles, but I put my arm out to stop her.

"Honey, you're exhausted. I can't let you do this," I told her, drawing both my swords.

"Blake, you do realise who that is, right?" Annabeth asked me. In response, I shot her the withering stare I've used on Sun on several occasions. "Just…making sure," she said, more quietly.

"A willing sacrifice?" Gaea asked.

"No. Not unless you're referring to yourself," I replied quietly.

"You cannot stop me, girl."

Rather than wasting time on an answer, I shot Gaea right between the eyes. A gaping hole appeared, from which sand poured in place of blood. As the hole closed itself, I ran forward and cut the goddess' stomach open. During this time, I had a thought about how to stop Gaea from healing.

"I need fire," I announced.

"Prometheus, you're well-known for giving fire to humans. Why don't you oblige?" Athena asked the man still under Zeus' foot. He grunted in annoyance at the comment.

"You caused this. Now you can end it," Zeus growled at him, lifting his foot. Prometheus stood up, and faced Zeus angrily.

"You chained me to a rock for millennia for giving fire to humans. Why should I do it again?" he spat.

"Actually, I'm a Faunus," I announced, untying my bow and letting it fall. "What's your excuse now?" As I finish speaking, I threw Gambol Shroud, letting the ribbon wrap around Gaea's feet. I then yanked it out, causing the goddess to fall. Before she could get up, I slit her throat.

"Kitty's got claws," Prometheus jeered. Upon hearing this, I turned to face him. Glaring, I shot him in the leg.

"Fire. Now," I told him.

"Do it, and I'll give you a peaceful exile. Refuse, and I'll damn you to Tartarus for eternity," Zeus promised. Grumbling, Prometheus summoned a fireball and asked what I wanted him to do.

"Simple," I answered. "I cut her, you cauterize the wound." On the last word, I charge Gaea again and open several large gashes on her chest. I rolled to the side as Prometheus shot a gout of fire, fusing the sand pouring from Gaea's body.

"Prometheus, would you really obey Zeus, after what he did to you?" the Earth Mother asked, sounding angry. Before Prometheus could answer, I made a diagonal slash through Gaea's head, splitting it in two. More sand flowed out, which Weiss seared with some flame Dust. Gaea collapsed as Jason shot down from the _Argo II_ and grabbed her. As he carried the goddess into the sky, Annabeth's face lit up, the way it does when she suddenly understands something.

"He's taking her out of her element to beat her. But there's no way he'll be able to hold her up there and fight her at the same time," she explained.

"Which of you will finish Gaea?" Zeus asked.

"I'll do it. I need to avenge my mother," Hazel volunteered.

"Then you will require transportation," Athena told her.

"I'll take her," announced a goddess in a tunic. She looked about twelve and had auburn hair, and she carried a bow and arrow. She and Hazel boarded her chariot, which was silver and pulled by gold reindeer with silver antlers, and headed into the sky. As soon as they left, the remaining gods, along with the demigods and Hunters, finished off the remaining Gigantes.

As the last of Gaea's children disintegrated, there was a scream and a flash of light from above us. I looked up to see two limp bodies falling, pursued by the goddess in the silver chariot. She managed to catch them in time, and landed gracefully. She deposited Jason and Hazel on the ground, telling us they were unconscious. Jaune rushed forward and placed his hand on Jason's forehead, scrunching up his face in concentration. A few seconds later, his hand began to glow and Jason's eyes opened.

"Wha-wha-where's Gaea?" he asked, sounding alarmed.

"Gone," I answered, as Jaune woke Hazel.

"Did we win?" she asked.

"Yes. Gaea and her children are defeated," Zeus replied. "I believe a celebration is in order, but first you mortals must be rewarded for your assistance." Hera gently nudged him. "Er… Without you, we would have…um…perished," he added, sounding reluctant to say the words.

"We will convene on Olympus," Hera announced, waving her hand. The world flipped, and I blacked out. When I came to, I was in an enormous room occupied by twelve large thrones. Each was occupied by a god or goddess in gigantic human form. The throne room hummed with power, and I felt insignificant.

"When Zeus addresses you, kneel in front of him," Annabeth whispered to us.

"Jason Grace. Step forward," Zeus called. Jason knelt at his father's feet. _That doesn't sound wrong at all_ , I thought. "A gift, my son. Anything, as long as it is within our power. What would you like?"

Jason thought for a while before speaking. "I want the minor gods and goddesses to receive more recognition. Most people have never heard of Khione, and she tried to kill us. There are countless others who are no longer respected, simply because they're considered minor. I propose to change that."

"Very well. Shrines shall be constructed at both demigod camps in honour of the lesser-known immortals, and we will ensure no god is left out of lessons at either camp," Zeus replied. "Hazel Levesque." Hazel stepped forward and knelt as Zeus continued, "Same as Jason. Any gift, so long as we are capable of bestowing it."

"I wish for my mother to be given pardon. She was possessed by Gaea, and turned on her just before she died. She deserves better than Asphodel."

A god resembling Nico, who I assumed was Hades spoke up, "I'll get on that."

"Thank you, Father," Hazel told him.

"Frank Zhang," Zeus called. As Frank stepped forward, he tripped over his own feet. Zeus raised an eyebrow before asking, "What would you like?"

"Some kind of fireproof container for my lifeline," Frank requested, removing his stick from his jacket.

"Easily done," Zeus said, waving his hand. A bag weaved itself from thin air and hovered until Frank put his firewood into it. The bag closed and dropped into Frank's hand, then the boy put it in his inside pocket. "Annabeth Chase."

"My lord, I request that you and the other Olympians, Lord Hades included, do everything in your power to bring Bob back from oblivion," Annabeth said.

"Why? He's just my servant. I can easily get another," Hades replied.

"He saved Percy and me in Tartarus more times than I can count. He gave his life so we could escape, and I did nothing for him. It's time he gets repaid," Annabeth explained.

"Very well. We will do what we can, but know this: your mortal life may have expired by the time Bob can take on even the weakest of physical forms," Zeus told her.

"I don't mind. Just make sure he knows that Percy and I are grateful for everything he did for us."

"Leo Valdez," Zeus called. Leo knelt, then spoke.

"I want some upgrades to my ship. There's so much stuff I could do if I had the skill and the equipment," he said.

"Come on, boy. Let's see what we can do," Hephaestus told him, standing up and shrinking to human size. He left the throne room with Leo, oblivious to the stares the other gods were giving him.

"Perseus Jackson, step forward," Zeus said. _His name is Perseus?_ I wondered. _Why didn't I know this already?_ "I know you do not want to be a god, so what _do_ you want?" As Percy thought about his answer, I briefly wondered why Zeus had said he knew Percy didn't want to be a god. I made a mental note to ask about that later.

"My lord, I request that all gods have more contact with their children. Most of us demigods live our whole lives without ever meeting our parents, which doesn't seem fair. I'm not saying you all need to always be around, but I ask that you take the time to get to know your children. They deserve to meet their parents," Percy said.

Zeus grunted, as if to say _can you believe this guy?_ , but agreed to Percy's request. "Piper McLean, step forward." Piper stepped forward and knelt as Zeus asked what gift she wanted.

"I want my mother to stop interfering in my life and my appearance. I don't want perfect hair all the time. Or perfect skin, or clothes. Just…please stop being annoying," Piper said.

"Well, I'm sorry for making things interesting for you. And making you gorgeous. I suppose you don't want to speak French anymore, either, do you?" Aphrodite asked.

"It's not that. It's just that looking perfect isn't me, and I'd prefer if I didn't. And as for the 'interesting' part, I'm happy with Jason," Piper replied. _Since when were those two dating?_ I wondered. I turned to look at Jason questioningly, who grinned back sheepishly.

"Then I shall instruct Aphrodite to leave you to your own devices where love and beauty are concerned. Jaune Arc. Your turn," the sky god announced.

"I…uh…can you guys unlock Semblances?" Jaune asked.

"Asclepius may be able to diagnose why yours has not manifested, and perhaps unlock it for you," Zeus answered. "Is this what you want?"

"Yes, please."

"Then it shall be done. After the celebration, you will visit the god of medicine. Pyrrha Nikos."

"Lord Zeus, you do not have to grant me anything. I only did what had to be done," Pyrrha told him. In that moment, it struck me just how selfless the redhead was. She could have had absolutely anything she wanted, yet she decided to take nothing in return for her efforts in beating the giants. Very few people I'd ever met would do that.

"Are you sure?" Zeus asked.

"Positive."

"Then it is your turn, Lie Ren. What would you like?"

"I would like free travel between our two worlds, at least for demigods and Hunters." I could tell he wasn't going to explain his reasoning.

"That will take some time to coordinate, but it will be done. Nora Valkyrie. Your request?"

"An unlimited supply of pancakes and syrup!" Nora exclaimed. Ren shook his head in exasperation. Zeus gave the hammer-wielding maniac a strange look, but nonetheless promised to grant Nora her wish.

"Yang Xiao Long, step forward. I have a special offer for you," Zeus said. As Yang walked over and knelt at Zeus' feet, I wondered what this offer could be. "You fought and defeated Alcyoneus not once, but twice. You battled Ephialtes and Otis at the same time. You held your own against Tartarus himself and you stood by me as I defeated Porphyrion. Furthermore, you were ready to single-handedly take on Gaea. For these reasons, assuming none of the Olympians are opposed to the idea, I would like to make you a goddess. You would serve as the immortal guardian of the barriers between our world and your own, ensuring that no one crosses who is not supposed to. You would also enjoy all the perks of immortality."

Yang looked at him in silence, as I got a strange feeling in my chest. If anyone deserved the ultimate gift from the gods, it was Yang, but I didn't want her to accept. If she were to become immortal, I wouldn't be able to grow old with her. Knowing Yang, she'd distance herself from me rather than putting herself through the emotional pain of watching me die. She'd be the same with Ruby. I decided that if I were in her position, I'd stay mortal and live with her for the remainder of my life.

"Not without my team," Yang told Zeus. The god blinked in surprise.

"What?" he asked.

"I said, not without my team. I'm not about to become immortal and see my teammates wither in front of me. You want someone guarding these barriers? You get my whole team, or you get none of us."

"Lord Zeus, her teammates did distinguish themselves. Weiss defeated Khione," Athena said.

"And the red and white ones did most of the work for me when I beat Ephialtes and Otis," the fat god pointed out.

"Let's not forget Black doing half the job of fighting Gaea on her own," said the god on Zeus' left, who, based on his resemblance to Percy, I deduced to be Poseidon.

"Yes, thank you, Athena, Dionysus, Poseidon. I will put it to a vote. All in favour-" Zeus was cut off by Hera reminding him that Hephaestus wasn't there, so the vote wouldn't be fair. "Good point. HEPHAESTUS!" Zeus bellowed. Said god suddenly reappeared with some fresh fires in his beard.

"Yes, lord?" he asked, sitting down on his throne.

"We are voting on whether or not to offer Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long immortality," Zeus explained.

"Oh."

"All in favour?" All twelve Olympians plus Hades raised their hands, excluding a god I assumed was Ares, based on his expression which was exactly like the ones his kids at Camp Half-Blood always wore. "Very well. Team RWBY, do you accept our offer of immortality?"

After we had a quick team discussion, Ruby announced our decision. "We accept. But I have a related request."

"What is it?" Zeus asked her.

"I would like to be the goddess of cookies."

Zeus cracked a smile, and said there was an opening for that position. He then looked at Weiss and said, "Our two worlds will now be united, and Dust is a raw, unbridled element. Do you wish to be made goddess of this element?"

"That is an acceptable proposition, Lord Zeus," the heiress replied.

"And Blake Belladonna. Given your skillset, goddess of stealth seems like a fitting position for you. Do you agree?"

"I will take that role gladly, my lord," I answered, feeling somewhat giddy at spending eternity with Yang.

"Yang Xiao Long. I cannot think of a more appropriate position for you than goddess of combat. Can you?"

"Hey, I'm the war god!" Ares protested.

"I am aware of that. I said _combat_. Yang would govern an individual's success or failure in battle, while your sphere of influence is the performance of armies," Zeus explained.

"Humph," Ares replied.

"Sounds good, lord," Yang told Zeus.

"Very well. We shall celebrate, then put Team RWBY through the process of elevating to immortality."

Ten minutes later, an Olympian party was in full swing. There were self-replenishing buffet tables, ensuring we wouldn't run out of food. Despite this, Ruby seemed determined to exhaust the cookie supply. The goblets were like the ones at Camp Half-Blood, only gold, so they could fill with any drink we wanted. The gods shrunk themselves to normal size so they wouldn't accidentally kill anyone. The speakers were enchanted, so everyone was hearing the kind of music they liked, preventing discrepancies about the song choice. At some point, however, I got the feeling that the slow song I was hearing was also being heard by everyone else, because everyone slowed down and started dancing with a single partner. Yang approached me.

"Blake Belladonna, may I have this dance?" she asked, holding out her hand.

"Yang Xiao Long, you may," I answered, taking her hand and joining her on the dance floor. Surprisingly, Yang knew how to slow dance. As the song ended, she dip kissed me, causing Nora to squeal at how cute we apparently were.

After several hours, the party died down and all the demigods, along with Weiss, Ren, Pyrrha and Jaune fell asleep. Ruby and Nora, predictably, were still hopped up on sugar, while Yang and I were standing at the foot of Olympus, gazing out over the skyline of what I'd been told was New York City. Yang had her arm around my waist as we stood in silence, both glad we'd survived. I could still scarcely believe I was going to be spending eternity with this girl.

"Hey, Blake. I just had a thought," the blonde suddenly told me.

"What was it?" I asked.

"You now know for a fact that you're gonna live to see the Faunus treated like equals."

"That's true. I hadn't thought of that," I replied. I then surprised her with a kiss. It was evident that she still hadn't gotten used to me doing that, but she kissed back fervently. I was really enjoying the moment until Ruby interrupted from behind me.

"Ew, get a room, you two," she told us.

"Really, Ruby?" Yang asked. "A whole damn mountain, and you tell us to get a room? Please go away." Our leader giggled and ran off. "Well, should we continue?"

"We have eternity. We don't have to get started now," I replied, overtaken by a sudden desire to tease the gorgeous girl in front of me. "Come on, let's go to sleep. Big day tomorrow." Yang agreed, and we went to find somewhere to sleep.

**Two weeks later**

It was now time to send Team JNPR home, so we gathered on the crest of Half-Blood Hill. Below us, a mixture of Greek and Roman demigods were waving farewell to the Hunters. By now, they all knew about Ruby, Weiss, Yang and I being goddesses, but we insisted on being treated normally. Yang once threatened to punch a camper to Remnant if he called her "Lady Yang" again. I felt as though she were itching to see if she could really do that.

"Are we ever gonna see you guys again?" Percy asked.

"Dude, you know the goddesses in charge of who crosses over. What do _you_ think?" Yang answered.

"Dolt," Weiss said to him.

"I take it that means yes?"

"Yes, Percy," I told him. Gods, boys could be so dense.

"Zeus said we can pretty much do whatever the fuck we want, and we'll sense when someone crosses over who shouldn't have," Yang said. "So we're gonna finish our training, then I don't know what else."

"Does your headmaster know?" Annabeth asked.

"No, but we're gonna tell him," Ruby answered.

"Are we going, or what?" Jaune asked.

"Yes, Jaune. Come on, guys," I replied. I waved my hand, creating a portal which we all stepped through. As the light from Remnant's sun hit my face for the first time in weeks, I felt really, truly, content.


End file.
